The Greatest Treasure
by Lovely SOS
Summary: The members of the House of Anubis are in for a surprise when a Sibuna meeting in the clearing leads to... another world? A whole new... life? Will Fabian ever tell Nina he likes her? Does Jerome like Mara? Is it possible Patricia might... LIKE Eddie?
1. The New and the Old

_**A/N** WHAT IF... The mystery of Anubis was over? Solved? The Cup was made, and that was it?_

_This is a continuation of the story, with a new mystery, if the season 1 finale had been the end of the mystery. In this story, Mick will not be leaving, but Eddie WILL be coming. There shall be DIFFERENT POV'S! ALSO IMPORTANT NOTE: Fabina did not happen... leaving ANY romance pairing to happen. Feel free to tell me who you'd like to see get together!_

_Anyway, PLEASE review and enjoy._

_Disclaimer: I don't own HoA, but this idea is my own. Sadly I wouldn't own HoA, even if I gave everyone I knew a taco. No, wouldn't change a thing..._

_Without further ado:** HOUSE OF ANUBIS: THE GREATEST TREASURE**_

~House of Anubis~

**INTRO BY NINA MARTIN**

Anubis House.

I had had a good summer, but I was more than ready to go back to boarding school in England. But, oh- don't let me get too ahead of myself. I should probably explain a little more. I'll just start over.

Hi, I'm Nina, and I'm from America. I'd attended my first year of a British boarding school last year, and stayed in the Anubis House on school grounds. At first glance, it was a normal school- and a normal house- but I'm the curious type. Soon I had it figured out that this was no ordinary House.

An old woman named Sarah gave me a locket that I discovered had magical powers. There was a sort of a catch about the locket though- I was the only one that it worked for. While solving the mysteries that the House presented, others tried to use the locket. It never worked.

Some of my friends from Anubis House helped me solve the mystery of the House, and we even started a club. My friend Amber, who you'll learn all about in this story, along with my other friends, named it Sibuna- Anubis backwards.

The mystery involved a missing girl, weird elixirs, a stuffed bird, a creepy attic, and so many more things. I wish I had time enough to tell you about it some more, but I don't. Maybe some other time? Because this is another story, a whole new year after my first one... Oops, let me finish what happened the first year, summarized. Don't want you confused.

My friends helped me find the pieces to and assemble the Cup of Ankh, an Egyptian treasure, after learning I was the Chosen One- which means that I'm rumored to be a descendant of the Egyptian God Amneris and was born on a special day and time. I guess that's why the locket works only for me, but anyway. When that was done- building the cup I mean- the mystery was too. I hid the Cup somewhere safe, and it hasn't since been needed. Mystery: Solved.

Then what is this story about? Well, the short answer is a whole NEW mystery. A whole NEW mystery filled with more daring bravery, more romance, more surprises, and more laughs than even my first year. Read on to discover how I, Nina Martin, and my friends, discovered that just because one mystery is solved... Doesn't mean they all are.

**CHAPTER ONE: The New and the Old!**

**NINA'S POV**

Home!

That's what I thought when I stepped through the door of the Anubis House. As much as I missed America and my Gran when I was at the boarding school, it seemed like my real home now. So much had happened here within these walls. Things I would never forget, that tested everything I thought I knew. I also made the greatest friends here a girl could wish for, and that, more than anything else was what made it home.

Without hesitation, I threw my bags by the stairs and ran for the common room of the House, where I could already hear my friends reuniting and laughing. I sped up, excitement filling me like a bubble about to pop. I hardly looked where I was going.

Suddenly, I bumped into someone and crashed down to the floor.

"AAAAH!" I yelled, knocking the other person flat when we went down on the floor. I stood up, starting to apologize.

"Oops! I'm so sorry... FABIAN!" I beamed when I saw who it was. It was my best friend himself. I blushed a little. We were best friends all the year before... But I had an embarrassingly big crush on him. I hoped he couldn't tell. I didn't want to mess it up because he was my best friend! I wasn't so sure he liked me back. Mostly I was just so glad to see him anyway. I really did miss him. Fabian looked a bit dazed, but he smiled when he saw it was me.

He stood up, dusting himself off a bit, still smiling.

"Nina!" He greeted me. I hesitated, then shyly gave him a hug. He seemed surprised, but hugged back.

"So, you're- good?" I asked, awkwardly moving away.

"Yeah! Yeah, actually. You?" Fabian asked with a small smile. I nodded and he went on. "There's a lot I have to tell you. You know, I didn't exactly write everything in my letters. I saved some of the best for when I could see you in person."

"Like what?" I asked, still smiling. I felt so happy. It was perfect- the House, but with no more mysteries. Fabian.

"Well... Actually, I-"

Suddenly a pink blur moved in for the kill. Amber with her attack hug.

"Nina! Nina, Nina, Nina, Nina!" She yelled, squeezing me. "I missed you!" She said loudly. I giggled.

"Get off me Amber! I missed you too though." From over my shoulder, Fabian looked slightly annoyed at being cut off, but then he smiled a little too at Amber, who was bouncing slightly while she squeezed me.

"Nina, I just-" Amber pulled away, looking happy and excited. Then she hit herself on the forehead with a well manicured hand. "Duh! I am so sorry, did I interrupt you two?" I blushed.

"It's fine Amber. What were you saying?" Amber looked sadly at Fabian, then went on as if nothing had happened. "Well... SO much has happened! And guess what? I got those shoes I wanted!" She nodded.

"Which ones?" I asked, laughing.

"Oh Nina, the EXPENSIVE ones. Duh." Amber looked at me meaningfully. "Yes, I'll show them to you later. Anyway, what are you waiting for? Lets get in there with everyone else!" Amber grabbed my wrist and pushed me and Fabian in the common room.

"Everyone, it's Nina!" Announced Amber. Everyone smiled, goofing around with me and including me in the fun. It felt so nice to be home. Suddenly a different face peeked into the room, yelling,

"GUYS!"

"Joy!" Patricia said. She gave her friend a hug.

"Hi!" Joy greeted everyone, smiling happily. "It's GREAT to be back," she said honestly. Everyone laughed, and Joy's eyes landed on me. "Nina," she said. "It's nice to... meet you." We giggled. I'd only sorta, unofficially met Joy. Last year Sibuna solved the mystery and brought her back to the school, but I'd hardly ever even spoken to her.

I shook her hand. "Likewise." Joy smiled and turned to Fabian, and surprising us all, she gave him a huge hug. He looked as dazed and surprised as when I knocked him over. I felt a slight twinge of jealously when he hugged her back, but ignored it. "I missed you." She said with a grin.

Jerome rolled his eyes and Alfie copied him. I must have been making a face or something, because Amber smiled and assured me they were just friends. I smiled back.

Yeah... It really was great to be home.

**JEROME'S POV**

Everyone was back at school. Everyone- me, Alfie, Meathead Mick. Fabian. Nina the American, Joy who'd been missing, Trixie. Amber. My personal favorite, Mara. But a little thing that I'd overheard had been making my day every time I thought of it, despite being back at school, where they force you to learn- apparently, there was going to be a new member of Anubis House. Some guy- and get this- he was from AMERICA, like Nina. And the poor guy was stuck with the name Edison. That name! Just thinking it made me laugh! And his last name was Miller. Very American sounding.

You can hear a lot when you hang around Mr. Sweet's office, especially when your house master is in there, blabbing on about the new kid.

Yes, well, anyway, I'd heard he would be arriving a bit later than everyone else. But I kept checking out the window, expecting every cab going by with returning students' to be this Edison guy. I couldn't wait for a whole new, unsuspecting foreigner to prank. I glanced out the window yet again.

"Jerome, are you waiting for someone?" Mara asked me. "You keep looking out the window." I smirked, looking down slightly to meet her gaze.

"You'll find out later," I said.

**FABIAN'S POV**

It was good to be back, but I didn't feel as happy as everyone else, and I didn't know why. Seeing Nina, well, for a moment I really did feel happy. But then the sense that... something, and I wasn't quite sure what, was going to happen. But it didn't seem like a good thing.

Everyone was hanging around catching up. Victor had walked in and addressed us all with a stiff welcome back and reminder that we were to be in bed at precisely ten 'o clock. Nina and I exchanged glances at this. Even though the mystery was done, I didn't think we quite were done sneaking around when we should be sleeping. I mentioned this to Nina and she agreed.

When Victor retreated, she smiled. "It's all set then. We'll sneak out after ten tonight." I blushed slightly.

"What will we do though?" I asked. Nina smiled slyly.

"We can visit the Sibuna clearing, or we could go to the cellar. Or Fabian, we could go back to all the areas we found puzzle pieces in." She smiled. "It's okay if you don't want to. We could get in trouble if we get caught. I mean... I just feel like it's hard to believe that the mystery is solved." I smiled back.

"No, I get what you mean. Er, should I ask Alfie, Patricia and Amber to come too?" She turned away slightly, making me wonder if I'd said something wrong.

"Oh- yes! Definitely." She said.

"It's a date," I said. "I mean, a Sibuna reunion." Nina just smiled again.

"Hey Fabian, could you help me with my bags?" Joy called from the hallway. I rolled my eyes jokingly, smiling.

"Just a sec Joy," I peeked into the hallway, "You should know by now you don't have to bring your entire house to school with you!" Nina giggled.

"This _is_ my house!" Joy shot back. I gave Nina a slight wave and left.

I helped Joy bring her bags to her room, but a small part of me couldn't help wishing that it was Nina's bags I'd had to get. Or at least that it was Nina I was hanging around with on the first day back. Then I felt slightly guilty- Joy missed a whole year of school. Of course she wanted to hang out.

The more I thought about it, the harder it seemed like it would be to tell Nina how much I liked her. You know, as... More than friends.

_A/N The first chapter. Please, please review, and tell me which couples you like! Fabina is a definite for this story, probably xD _

_~Lovely_


	2. Arrival of Eddie

_A/N I know you guys are reading but not reviewing... If you reviewed, you aren't a failure xD _

_CHAPTER TWO: ARRIVAL OF EDDIE_

**AMBER'S POV**

Sibuna meeting! It was so exciting. Well, I mean, it wasn't exactly a Sibuna meeting, but it was a reunion. And those are the same thing, right? Well, they're close enough.

In a way, I had been annoyed when Nina told me it was after ten o'clock in the clearing. For one thing, how could I ever get any beauty sleep then? And for another, it wasn't so pleasing that it was in the woods. I still have nightmares about those shoes that got ruined by oil from Mrs. Andrew's car... And we had been through the woods that day! And the scene of the crime was right _next_ to the woods. You see my good points?

Anyway, I was willing to risk shoes for a good Sibuna reunion. We still had hours though... I sighed. It was super hard to wait, and all Nina and I were doing was unpacking and chatting. Which wasn't too bad, since I had lots to tell Nina, my best friend, but still.

"Nina, I was thinking, we could bring snacks or something to the clearing with us," I said. "You know, for Alfie." Nina giggled.

"Good idea. Maybe we can steal some of Trudy's cake..." We laughed, and I suddenly remembered my shoes. I squealed and ran to my suitcase to find them and show Nina. They were great shoes. They were red pumps with these cute little bows, and they'd been so expensive, and-

Nina and I looked at each other suddenly. There was a loud but very muffled thud from downstairs. Thinking the same thing, Nina and I went to investigate. I thought about the word investigate. It was fun to say. Or think...

The other members of the House were gathered in the common room, but that didn't seem like where the loud sound had come from. I concentrated hard. What if this was another mystery? We didn't see much out of the ordinary, though.

Nina shrugged. "I guess it was just a loud pipe or something." As soon as she'd said that there was another loud bump. We looked at each other and ran towards the door to see what it was.

Outside, a tall blond guy with hazel-brown eyes was throwing his suitcases out of a cab. Each one hit the ground with a dull thud. I frowned. They weren't the BEST looking suitcases, but they looked like real leather, and maybe even silver clasps (I know about these things, trust me), and he was just making them look worse by throwing them like that! You have to _love_ your accessories and clothes. It's a crime to do anything less.

I marched out to give him a piece of my mind.

"Wait!" Nina called, following me, not understanding the horror of this situation. I swung my hair over my shoulder and went right on.

**EDDIE'S POV**

"Thanks, but could you please not drive like a dying turtle next time?" I asked the taxi guy. He looked offended and drove away, barely giving me time to shut the car door. "I'm not tipping you!" I yelled carelessly, smirking a bit. I turned around to pick up my bags, running a hand through my hair.

"How dare you!" A pretty blond girl ran up to me, shouting in her British-y accent and glaring. I gave her a look like she was crazy, because she honestly seemed to be.

"Hey, he didn't deserve a tip, okay? He was like 106 years old and he didn't even have teeth." I said, rolling my eyes. The girl looked confused, and I noticed behind her another pretty girl was standing. I gave her a cool nod.

"I wasn't talking about the taxi man, I was-" The first girl started.

"Sorry, that's Amber." The second girl said hastily about the first one. She had long brown hair that was long and kinda wavy-curly. I approved. "We just saw you from inside! I'm Nina. Are you new here?" She held out her hand, which I shook.

"An American!" I said, noting her voice was different from this other girl Amber. I held on to her hand a little longer than I needed too. With a flirty wink, I said, "I was getting sick of those annoying British people. Eddie, by the way."

"Hey!" Yelled the airhead called Amber. Nina took her hand back, and I just smirked.

"Right..." Nina said. "So are you staying here?" I nodded. "Cool. Do you like... need help with your bags?" she asked. I smirked more.

"I think I can get them myself," I said with a fake sweet smile. As if she could even pick up one of my bags. They each weighed like 400 pounds. Amber was still glaring at me.

From inside, I saw a tall guy pull back a curtain and look my way. For some reason he smiled when he saw me, then disappeared.

"Who's the creep?" I asked, pointing. Nina began walking towards the house, towing Amber.

"That's Jerome. Well, if you're good with bags, I'll just tell Victor and Trudy you're here." She threw me another smile, which I liked. I grabbed all three of my suitcases at once and brought them to the door, following the girls. Once inside, I just had time to see Nina and Amber disappearing up the stairs to report my arrival to the head-house guy. Then the dude from the window strode forward seemingly out of nowhere.

"Edison Miller I take it?" He grinned. "Jerome." I gave him the same look I'd given Amber only about a minute ago. "Since you're new here-" I cut him off and put down my suitcases.

"No one calls me that," I said, not bothering to ask how he knew my name. "It's just Eddie. Anyone ever call you Jerry? Oh, I think I like that. Jerry." I patted the guy on the head, picked up my suitcases again, and walked down the hall, freely laughing at the expression on his face. He obviously hadn't been expecting that. British chump.

**PATRICIA'S POV**

I heard obnoxious male laughter coming from the halls downstairs, but it didn't sound like Jerome or anyone else from the House. "I'm going to see what that is," I told Joy. She nodded, barely listening to me, probably. She had headphones on and I'd bet good money she was day- dreaming about cute boys. Hah.

Jerome was standing by the front looking mildly confused, so again I didn't think the laughter I'd heard was his. I looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"What's that look for?" I asked. "And what was that awful laughing?" Jerome shook his head at me and pointed towards the hall. I spun around to see where he was pointing.

"THAT," Jerome said, "That creature you see is going to be staying in Anubis House." He looked disgusted. "Americans!" He muttered, walking away. In the hall, leaning against the wall was a tall guy. He was pretty good looking, but his expression was one of those that showed a special kind of careless audacity. I instantly frowned. I hated guys like that.

"Who are you?" I asked loudly. He turned coolly my way.

"Eddie," He grinned. He was chewing gum very obnoxiously. He kept opening his mouth and blowing and popping bubbles."You are?"

I smirked at his accent. "Didn't your mother ever teach you that it's rude to chew with your mouth opened?" I asked ignoring his question and looking at him skeptically with a hint of a glare. The guy snorted and continued chewing as grossly as ever.

"Well, don't you seem to have... Spirit," he said, smirking. I glared full on. Everything about him seemed wrong to me, from his old-looking shoes to his bubblegum to the disrespectful way he was looking at me and talking to me. Creep. I crossed my arms.

"So you're staying here?" I asked. He nodded.

"That other girl... the wavy, long brown haired one. Yeah. She said she was getting the guy in charge around here." The scum-ball looked around, then my way again, winking. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"She has a name you know," I said coldly, "If you would be ever so kind to use it, I'm sure she already told you. It's Nina." Eddie rolled his eyes at me.

"You aren't nearly as nice as her." He grinned. I scoffed, retorting.

"I don't really know why she was being nice to YOU." Eddie bit his lip as if to keep from laughing. He re-adjusted his position so that he was no longer leaning against the wall and crossed his arms too. I saw he was wearing a brown leather bracelet.

It bothered me that I didn't seem to be effecting him at all... Usually no one could resist very long when I was up to something. I was Patricia, Queen of scarring you mentally with only words! Only Eddie didn't seem troubled at all. I felt like a fish out of water.

"Let's start over," he said, "Eddie Miller."

"More like Eddie Kreuger." I snapped, laughing at my own words. Eddie mocked a hurt look, annoying me even more.

"Hey! And you didn't even get the name right... don't you mean Freddie Kreuger?" He pronounced the 'F' extra loud, then cracked up. Ha ha, so funny. I rolled my eyes. It didn't even matter anyway. Obviously his small brain had at least _mostly_ understood the message.

"Whatever! It's not like it's a problem. You're still a nightmare!" I said. He stopped laughing.

"You don't ever stop talking, do you?" he asked, leaning again on the wall. "I'm going to call you Yacker. Fits you just fine." I gave him a small fake smile and just walked away, leaving him calling, "Later Yacker!" I'd deal with him some other time.

Anger boiled inside of me. This new Eddie guy _was_ gonna get it... I, Patricia Williamson, had always been at the top of the food chain. Some new weirdo wasn't going to change that.

_A/N Next chapter is where it all starts getting mystery-ish :D_


	3. Old Key

_A/N Thank you, and please, please review. Thanks to beta Reflection noitcelfeR :)_

_CHAPTER THREE: Old Key_

**MARA'S POV**

I smiled as I tried to unpack the rest of my things. It was getting late, but I wasn't done just yet. First I'd arranged all of my school things, since I'd be needing them tomorrow, and then we'd all gotten news that there was a new guy in the House. His name was Eddie. I have to say, he was really cute, and he gave off that bad-boy vibe. He didn't matter to me in that way, though, because I had Mick.

Since Joy was back this year, I had to share a room with her and Patricia. I didn't mind though, because I don't take up much space anyway. This Eddie guy had to share a room with Fabian and Mick. Right now Patricia and Joy where in the common room watching a movie. They'd invited me, but I felt it was important to get my belongings in order BEFORE fun.

Mick... I got excited thinking of Mick. I had missed him over summer, and we'd written, but it was great to see him in person again. He'd promised me a date tonight right away. (When Amber heard, she helped me pick out an outfit. She was more excited than I am!)

At that point, I figured I was almost done packing anyway and could take a break or leave the rest for tomorrow. What to do...? Oh! I knew what I could do! I smiled and went to my bag, looking for the blue present box I had in there. Over summer break, I found Mick what I thought was the perfect present, and I couldn't wait to give it to him. I searched in my bag, but slowly I realized the box wasn't there. I frowned.

I looked under my bed. Nothing. In my suitcase- nothing. I had been so sure I'd packed it in my bag... Then a thought struck me. What if Jerome or Alfie took it? As a prank? A coming-back prank? That may sound paranoid, but ask anyone at the entire school. They would get it.

Besides, I'd heard earlier Amber was missing some of her shoes. Maybe they'd taken something from everyone. I sighed and went out of my room to find Jerome and Alfie, who I was sure had the present for Mick.

I knocked on Jerome and Alfie's door, but I didn't hear a reply. "Hello?" I called, going inside. I didn't see Jerome or Alfie, but I was surprised to see a blond-haired girl, who looked a few years younger than me, concentrating on something on the other side of the room. "Oh!" I said. She spun around, looking like a deer in the headlights.

Her eyes widened. "I wasn't-" She cut herself off. "Oh, sorry, I thought you were Jerome."

"Who are you?" I asked, leaning against the door. "And why are you going through Jerome and Alfie's things?" The girl rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Not Alfie's. Just Jerome's," She said cheerily. She peeked out the door. "He's not coming, is he?" I shook my head, but before I could say more the girl crossed the room and held out her hand. "I'm Poppy Clarke." She said.

I shook her hand. "Clarke? Are you... related to Jerome?" She nodded.

"Yes, actually I am. I'm his sister," she rolled her eyes again, "He's never told you about me?" she paused, "I'm not surprised. This is my first year here, anyway. Who are you? Jerome's secret girlfriend?"

"No!" I said quickly, "I'm- just a friend. And you never answered me... Poppy. What are you doing with Jerome's things?" Poppy pouted.

"Jerome took my phone. For no good reason! All I wanted was to get it back, I swear." I nodded, remembering Mick's present.

"I think he might have taken something of mine, too." As soon as I said this, I saw the blue present box on Jerome's bed. "Thank goodness," I thought, retrieving it. Suddenly Alfie, followed by Jerome burst into the room, laughing. Jerome stopped dead when he saw me and Poppy. It took Alfie a little longer to see what was going on.

"Poppy!" Jerome yelled. "What are you DOING here?" Jerome glared at her, then turned to me, "And what are you- Oh." He eyed the box I was holding.

"Jerome, I just want my phone..." pleaded Poppy.

"Get out!" Jerome yelled. I frowned.

"Jerome! Don't talk to her like that." I said angrily. Alfie watched with wide eyes. Jerome sighed.

"Look Mara, Poopy is nothing but trouble. You stay out of this- don't let her convince you either." He looked back at Poppy sternly, who guiltily looking at the small mess she'd made of Jerome's things. "Do you mean you're trying to steal MY phone again?" He asked.

Poppy bit her lip. "I would have given it back." She gave me a pleading look, but I remembered that she'd said she was here to get _her_ phone... Not steal Jerome's. I shrugged.

"Poppy, just leave. Now." Jerome said. Poppy glared at him, leaving slowly.

"He's so mean," Poppy grumbled on her way out. I gave her a sympathetic look. Jerome pointed towards the door.

Poppy left, yelling, "I will get my revenge Jerome!"

Jerome dragged his hands across his face. "Ughhh, Poppy! Worst little sister ever!" Alfie and I were still confused. Especially Alfie.

"You have a sister?" Alfie asked, "You never even told me mate." He looked a little hurt.

"Yeah, I do have a sister," Jerome looked between me and Alfie, "And neither of you are going to tell ANYONE."

"Why?" I asked, "She seemed sweet."

"Sweet? Poppy is an evil mastermind, even though I have the advantage of knowing her best tricks. After all, I taught them all to her. But really, who knows what evil information she has since learned? She's a life ruin-er Mara! You two will tell NO ONE." Alfie nodded, eyes wide.

"Yes sir," he said. Jerome glared at him. "I'm just going to... get some of Trudy's cake," Alfie said fearfully. He basically ran away, making me give Jerome a look of disapproval.

"How come you never told anyone about Poppy?" I asked Jerome. It was just the two of us now. He was staring at my blue present box.

"Because," he said, "I hate talking about my family." He pointed towards the door, and I forgot to confront him about taking my present. "Can't you see why? Poppy is a little toad!"

"She seemed NICE, Jerome. You overreacted," I said. He just sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"I have stuff to do, Mara. Could you just leave me alone?" It surprised me when Jerome said this, but I listened. I quietly walked towards the door, but before I was gone, he stopped me by putting a hand on my shoulder. "I'm... sorry Mara." I nodded to show it was okay. "Just... please. Don't tell anyone about Poppy."

"I won't," I said, surprised that Jerome had apologized to me, something he hardly ever does. I didn't understand why Jerome was keeping his sister a secret, but it seemed really important to him. "I promise."

**ALFIE'S POV**

Sibuna meeting in a few minutes... I checked Jerome's bed. He was out cold. I sighed quietly, shaking my head at him. I wished Jerome had told me about his sister. At the end of the last school year, I had started feeling like- well, like our best-friends' relationship was all me. If that makes any sense. Or maybe it was all him...

The point is, I felt like I gave, and Jerome took. I wondered suddenly if he was even my friend at all. Jerome knew everything about me, sadly, and I really didn't know very much about him. I sighed, the thoughts dawning on me as I tiptoed away from our room.

Amber, Nina and Patricia were waiting by the front door, looking excited.

"Hey Ams," I whispered, "Oh, and everyone else." I paused, knowing I was a little late. "Where's Fabian?"

Patricia held up her finger and shushed me. Then she shrugged.

"We don't know," explained Nina. Just then there was a soft padding sound from the hall, and Fabian emerged, scaring me a little. He'd just come out of the blue. Er, black. You know.

"Sorry," Fabian whispered. Loudly.,"I just-" Nina cut him off with a shush and pointed towards the door, signaling for us to get the bajeebies out of there. So we did, and I was a little glad, because honestly, the House is creepy at night. I stuck close to Amber to protect her.

As creepy as the House was, the woods looked even creepier at night. I was glad we'd decided to meet at the door earlier... I shuddered. The woods... at night... Ugh!

"Okay everyone," Nina announced when we were well into the woods, "Welcome to the first of what will hopefully be an annual event. Our first Sibuna reunion!"

We cheered, and Nina started taking food out of a big bag she'd brought with her, which I happily ate. The food I mean, not the bag!

"So why were you late?" I asked Fabian, eating as much food as I could. He laughed at me and answered the question.

"I kinda overslept," he said, embarrassed, "I mean, I wasn't going to sleep at all, but-" he shrugged, "I did. I was exhausted from the trip here, I guess. Long hours in a cab. And Eddie snores," Fabian added, looking uncomfortable. I couldn't tell why.

"Hey-" I started to say, but suddenly Nina shouted from the other side of the clearing. I looked, but I couldn't make out what was happening. Fabian shot up like an arrow.

"Nina? Are you okay?" he called. Nina stumbled our direction.

"Yeah," she said, brushing dirt of her pants, "I just tripped on something." She grimaced, "I'll be fine though."

"What did you trip on?" Patricia asked, picking at a piece of Trudy's cake. I wondered if she wanted it.

"I don't know," Nina paused. "I think it was just a tree root or something." She turned around and knelt down, looking around. She stopped, looking confused. "I don't know what this is, actually." Digging at the ground with her fingers, she pulled out a small rusty box I could just make out in the dim moonlight.

"Ew," murmured Amber. Patricia rolled her eyes.

"What's in it?" Fabian asked. He stood and went over to Nina. He helped her up, and she took his hand shyly.

"I don't know," Nina said again. She twisted the knob on the box, but it didn't budge. She tried again. "Here." She gave it to Fabian, who also tugged at it. It still didn't budge.

Amber stood up. "Here," she said, "Hand it over." Fabian looked doubtful, but gave it to her. Whatever Amber did, the box popped right open. She smiled. "I knew I could get it."

I clapped. "Yeah Ams!"

**FABIAN'S POV**

Nina took the box back from Amber, smiling. I was blushing, slightly annoyed that Amber had gotten it and not me. Before I could justify myself, Nina said, "Look... all that's in here is this little key." She held it up in her palm. It was as old-looking and rusty as the box.

"Do you think it's a key to anything in the school? Or the House?" asked Patricia.

"Could be," Nina said, "It looks really beat up though. It's probably just an old key... But I think I'm going to keep it." I stared at the key.

"Can I see it?" I asked suddenly. Nina handed it to me, and I think I imagined it, but the slight moment our hands brushed she smiled. I took the key carefully, then started trying to rub the dirt off. To my surprise, the rust started falling away. Amber oohed and ahhed- the key wasn't rusty at all. It was a shiny, deep black.

"Weird," Nina said, mystified. I hesitated to give it back. For some reason I really liked it. Well, I didn't exactly like it. But I wanted it. I had no idea why. Suddenly I thought, almost angrily, why does Nina want it? Why can't I have it? But as soon as I had thought it, I shook it off, feeling kinda crazy. After that I wasn't so eager to have it. There was something about it that I didn't like. It was a little creepy.

I handed it back to Nina and watched closely. She simply smiled and slipped the key in her pocket. Slightly dazed, I wondered what had just happened. I wanted to tell someone... I shook that thought off too. Besides, if I wanted to tell anyone, it would be Nina. I knew we were Sibuna and all... But I didn't want anyone else to know.

"Hey, it's late," Patricia said, breaking the silence, "We should probably get back." Everyone nodded and started packing up the food.

As we walked back to the House, I shuddered. Patricia walked up to me.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, "You seem kind of... distracted."

I took a deep breath. "I'm fine."


	4. Black Ripples

_A/N Nina and Fabian may have a lot of POV's, because the mystery will be surrounding them mostly, but I'm going to work in a lot of different POV's. This chapter we have Mick, Joy, Nina and Fabian's POV. Thanks to beta Reflection noitcelfeR _

_CHAPTER FOUR: Black Ripples_

**MICK'S POV**

"I got you something Mick," Mara said, smiling. I smiled back. We were in the hallway at school, but she looked so excited that I didn't think to ask why she was giving it to me here. Not really private, that's all I'm saying.

"Really? What is it?" I asked. She beamed, showing me a blue box she'd been holding behind her back.

"Open it and see," Mara replied.

"Cool." I said. I accepted the box and tore the ribbon off. My face fell slightly at what was inside.

"Do you like it?" Mara asked happily. I hesitated.

"Yeah, it's great babes. Thanks." I said with a fake smile, trying to please her. It just... wasn't a good present for me.

"Here, I'll help you put it on."

It was a bracelet. Mara got me a BRACELET. She took it from my hand and put it around my wrist, but it was too small and pinched my skin. It was braided leather with a clasp, I think. Hey, I learned from Amber. Anyway, Mara's face fell too.

"It's not big enough," She said, disappointed. I handed her the bracelet. She hesitated, then put it around her own wrist. It was too big. "I'm sorry, I thought it was perfect," She said honestly, looking at me with her big brown eyes.

"Hey, doesn't matter at all." I said. "I love it anyway." She giggled and I gave her a light kiss. "I have something for you too."

"Oh Mick, you didn't have to get me anything," Mara said, but I could tell she was pleased. I grinned.

"Here." It was sloppily wrapped in newspaper. "Sorry," I said hurriedly. "I couldn't find paper." Mara didn't mind. She opened it, and I looked on with anticipation. "You're going to love it Mara."

She gave the newspaper a final tug, and the necklace I had hidden in there fell and skidded across the floor with a a loud clatter. "Oh!" Mara yelled, running after it. Someone walking by kicked it, and Mara dove for it.

"Sorry!" She said, running back to me with the necklace in her hand. "It just-"

"No worries," I said happily. "You love it. I can tell." Mara's eyes really fell on the necklace for the first time. It was a gold and pink necklace I'd picked out myself. It was a thin gold chain with these big pink flowers. In the back of my mind I thought, out of habit, that Amber would love it. Then I remembered that it wasn't for her.

"It's-" Mara widened her eyes. "Thank you, Mick." She said with a soft smile. I continued smiling back, even though I didn't understand why she wasn't more excited about it. Whatever, she seemed to like it.

"Oh- got to get to class. See you later Mara." I shouted, and dodged away and waving. At that moment, everything for me seemed happy there in the hallway. But as I didn't notice Mara's polite smile fade as she looked at the necklace that she really hated.

**JOY'S POV**

I breathed in. I honestly had never thought that in my whole life I would be so HAPPY to be at school. I know, crazy, it seems. But when you were away a whole year...

"Fabian!" I yelled happily, spying him across the hall. He saw me and waved. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him smile. I really liked Fabian- it must have been something about his shy-ness. Or maybe it was how he was so smart, but he looked cute. Not like a nerd, at least. Despite what Patricia says. Nerds wear glasses, right?

"How's your first day?" Fabian asked me. I grinned.

"That's sounds funny." I said. "You know, cause it ISN'T my first day. Well it is... But you know." he laughed, understanding. "So-" I started. Just then Nina walked up.

"Hey Nina!" Fabian said. It made me uncomfortable how fast his attention switched to her.

"Hey," I said quickly. "So Fabes-"

"Nina, can I talk to you at lunch time?" Fabian said quietly and seriously. I frowned. I was still THERE. He knew that, right? Nina looked surprised at his urgent tone, but nodded. Then she left as soon as she'd come, giving me a little wave.

"Sorry, what was that Joy?"

"Yes, so I was saying-"

"Oh!" Fabian said. "I have to get to class." He started walking away, much to my evident frustration.

"Wait!" I scrambled after him, feeling stupid and almost mad at him. Almost.

"Yeah Joy?" Fabian gave me one of those smiles. You know, his cute smiles. Like he honestly didn't get what had just happened. I sighed, trying to keep up as we dodged people running to class. At least we were headed the same way.

"Do you need to talk?" I asked. "You can tell me anything. I'v always been here for you." I smiled. "I mean, I know I wasn't last year, but... I missed you." I shrugged. "I missed talking to you. I hated being the Chosen One."

Fabian looked like he didn't know what to say. "Yeah, it must have been hard." He paused. "Don't worry, I don't need to talk about anything." He smiled honestly again and slipped into a classroom door. I frowned unhappily, but his head popped back out for a moment. "I'll have lunch with you, yeah?" He said.

That brightened me up a bit.

"Yup." I said.

**NINA'S POV**

I looked for Fabian in the cafeteria, but I didn't see him where we always sat. Weird, I thought. I wondered what he'd wanted to tell me. He seemed a little on edge since we came back to school... Where was he?

Then, a little surprised, I spotted him sitting with Joy. I made my way over.

"Hey," I said, smiling tightly. I didn't like the way Joy looked at Fabian. It reminded me of... of the way I looked at him. Or the way I felt when I looked at him. I shrugged it off- Amber said they were just friends. And Amber knew Joy better than me, right?

"Nina!" He widened his eyes meaningfully. I feel like he was trying to say that he would talk to me later. I gave him a slow nod, but inside it bothered me that he'd changed plans... No, I was being ridiculous.

"Can I sit?" I asked. If it were just Fabian, I wouldn't have even asked. Joy smiled invitingly and patted the seat beside her. I hesitated, but sit next to her instead of Fabian.

The rest of lunch we spent catching up. Joy had a lot to say about what had happened to her after the whole incident last year. We all did. We talked about our summers and what we did. It was interesting enough, and I was starting to like Joy. She was funny and really dramatic, but she was also thoughtful sometimes. Really the only thing I didn't like about her was the way she talked to Fabian.

Even if they were just friends, it was obvious Joy wanted to be more. She laughed at everything Fabian said, and smiled at him, and said flirty things. But Fabian didn't even notice. That was the worst part. He treated Joy just like he treated me, which made me a little sad.

But I reminded myself that Fabian didn't even know that I liked him.

After school, I felt like I could finally breath. I just went to my room to relax. But no sooner than I had sat down on my bed Fabian came in.

"Nina!" He said. "Sorry, Joy wanted to have lunch with us so I didn't get to talk to you." I nodded.

"Don't worry about." I paused, then said excitedly, "What did you want to tell me? I know it's only our second day back but- I could use some adventure." I laughed. Fabian sat down next to me, but he wasn't laughing.

"Nina, can I see that key? That you found last night?" I looked at him oddly.

"Sure. Why?" I slipped it out from under my shirt. It was on the same chain as my Eye of Horus locket- which I still wore even though the mystery was all solved. It was just like a reminder of everything that had happened, and somehow it felt wrong to take it off. I handed to him.

"This key." Fabian murmured. His hand made a fist around it. "Can I have it?" Fabian blurted. I looked at him, surprised.

"Oh! Well... I guess... Why do you want it? I mean, I just think it's cool." I said slowly.

"Yeah. I mean, I don't have to have it. I just think it's cool too." He said nervously. I smiled.

"Don't worry, you can have it. Was that all you wanted?" I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. Maybe I was being to subtle about liking him. I batted my eyelashes, but Fabian wasn't looking at me and I felt stupid. I stopped.

"Um, yeah. I'll see you at dinner?" He asked, standing. I faked a smile.

"Yeah."

**FABIAN'S POV**

I couldn't believe myself. All I could think about since Nina fell on it was that creepy key and how I felt drawn to it. I finally gave in and took it from Nina. I sat in my room staring at it. It was so little, and it sparkled so... darkly. I turned it over in my hands.

I had really gone to Nina's room to tell her the way I'd been thinking about the key, but instead I'd asked to have it. It puzzled me that Nina was fine around it but I just... wanted it.

I felt compelled to find out what the key went to. What did it open? I stood up from my bed and went over to the wall. I traced my fingers along the window sill and paused. I felt a small crack. Not knowing why, I held up the key and fit it into the crack in the window sill. It fit perfectly.

Suddenly the air around the key sort of rippled. Dark waves spread out of the crack and covered the window. My jaw hanging open, I hesitantly touched the wall.

It didn't hurt, but it felt strong, almost electronic force. I pushed my finger lightly into the wall and found it went right through. My eyes widened, and I won't lie, I was freaking out. Gasping, I pulled the key out of the crack. The black ripples in the wall disappeared. My eyes still wide and my mouth still open, I ran out of the room, the black key tight in my fist.

"Nina!" I yelled.


	5. Where are We?

_A/N I would really, really like it if you reviewed. It means so much! PS I am sick, so review to make me better :D This chapter should be all good thanks to Beta Reflection noitcelfeR. This is for all yall :D_

_CHAPTER FIVE: Where are We? _

**JEROME'S POV**

I was first to arrive for dinner. I sat down and waited, watching Trudy cook some chicken thing in the kitchen. Mara came next, prompting me to roll my eyes. Mara was never late for ANYTHING- not even dinner.

"Hey Jerome," she said brightly. She sat down two seats away. That was like her, not to sit with me. I snorted. "How are things with... Your sister? I Know I'm not supposed to bring it up, but, I just wondered..." Mara asked in a hushed tone. I glanced around the room, making sure no one else was there. Trudy was too close for my liking, even as far away as she was.

"Can you please never speak of that again? Thanks." I hunched forward in my seat, staring ahead of me.

"Jerome, why are you keeping her a secret?" Mara asked me. I turned her way so quickly she jumped in surprise.

"Look. We've been through this Mara. It's _my_ business. So stop asking!" I angrily crossed my arms. Why did she have to know? And why did Poppy even have to come to the school at all?

Mara shrunk back. "Okay, I get it. Your business."

All through dinner Mara never said a word. I started to feel bad, which is very unlike me, but I stubbornly reminded myself that NO ONE was supposed to know about Poppy. For the rest of the meal, every time I allowed my eyes to flicker Mara's way, she looked deep in thought.

**EDDIE'S POV**

Dinner was weirdly quiet. Now, I know that this was only my first few days at the school, but I'd been to enough meals to know that this was not the usual thing. The first meal: food fight. Second meal: food fight. Third meal: fight between Amber and Alfie about God knows what, which I quite enjoyed watching. And now, fourth meal: Utter quiet.

"Don't all talk at once," I said sarcastically, breaking the silence as loudly as I could. I noted that Fabian and Nina weren't even there.

"Where's Fabian?" Joy burst suddenly, "And Nina?" I smirked. Everyone else shrugged like they didn't know, except for Jerry, who was glaring at his plate and not eating much. He didn't say anything.

"If you're not gonna have that," I said, stabbing a roll of his plate and putting it on mine, "I would be _honored_ to take it." I just smirked when he switched his glare from the plate to me.

I shoved the roll in my mouth and stood up. "Well, got to go," I said through the roll. Amber shuddered, probably at my impeccable table manners. Without waiting for my excuse to be approved, I strolled away.

I started going towards my room, but thought better of it. I grinned. What if I just took a little trip into one of the girls' rooms? They were eating dinner. They would never know.

I instantly picked Patricia's room to peek into. She was certainly... something. But you gotta know thy enemy, right?

I wasn't quite sure which room would be hers, but after poking my head in the first one I chose, I knew that wasn't it. It didn't look like Patricia- or Yacker as I called her- would live there, so I moved on. The next one was definitely hers.

There were three beds, but I knew which one was Yacker's. It was just obvious by all the stuff throw around it. The stuff around the other beds were neater and more carefully organized. There was also a small photo of three girls on the nightstand, so I could guess who else lived there. That smart girl, Mara. And Joy, with Patricia.

In the picture, Yacker looked just like herself as I'd seen her my first hours around the House and school. She appeared to be rolling her eyes, while Mara made a pretty smile and Joy made a crazy face. For some reason I liked the picture, but I ignored it and moved on.

"What's this?" I murmured, picking up a dark green backpack. I unzipped it and sifted through the things inside. "Boring... Boring..." I said out loud, my fingers flying past school stuff. Then I saw something that interested me. It was a thin silver chain, hiding in the seams at the bottom of the backpack. It didn't look as Yacker-like as everything else that wasn't school junk.

"WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING?" Yacker herself stood in the doorway, angry with arms crossed. I smiled innocently, though I was quite surprised to see her there.

"Just... looking around, that's all," I said easily. Patricia's eyes went wide when she saw what I had in my hands.

"You creep!" she yelled, "Give me that NOW!" She looked dangerous, but I still played with her. I was just like that.

"Oh, this?" I asked. I threw the chain into the air and caught it again, then twirled it around my finger. Patricia's glare was so deadly I swear it could have killed a small animal. Maybe even a big one.

"Give. It. NOW," she said boldly. She marched forward with her hand outstretched.

"I think I'll keep it," I said, smirking. I slipped it into my pocket and started turning, like I was going to leave, to mess with her.

Before I could leave, I heard, "You weasel!" She actually looked a little upset, but before I could do anything, she lunged forward and actually tackled me to the ground. I was surprised, to say the least. Patricia jammed one hand in my pocket, and the other on my chest to keep me down. She took back her chain and stood up like that... whatever just happened hadn't happened at all.

"GET OUT," she said in that deathly tone of hers. I was still on the floor. I stood up slowly, eyeing her. I was a little impressed. I didn't know she could tackle so well. "Out," she said yet again.

I cast her a curious glance. "I'm going," I said. I paused at the doorway to speak my mind. "You're the weirdest girl I've ever met," I offered. Then I quickly left, before she decided to attack again.

Patricia certainly didn't seem like a girl to be messed with. I smiled. That was exactly why I decided I would have to start messing with her a lot more.

**NINA'S POV**

Dinner was going on downstairs, or would be soon, I knew. But Fabian had run to my room kinda freaked out, so now we were going to see what his problem was.

"The key-" Fabian was saying, leading me quickly to his room. He was clutching it so tight his fingers were turning pink.

"Yes?" I prompted. We hurried along and slipped into his room.

"Look," he said. He un-clenched his fist and ran a finger over the window sill and the wall around it, where there were some faint cracks I'd never really noticed before. I watched and waited, wondering what I was supposed to be looking at exactly. Suddenly Fabian seemed to have found what he was looking for. "Watch," he said to me.

Fabian held up the key and slipped it into one of the cracks. It surprised me that it fit. And I think it's safe to say it surprised me even more when black... Wave-type things started spreading from the key.

"What-" I whispered.

"See?" Fabian said. He looked a little more calm now, but we were BOTH freaking out. "I just- I don't know. But look. I put my finger up to it and it went right through." He demonstrated this for me.

"What do you think it is?" I curiously touched the wall myself, and found my fingers slipped through almost like water. The black waves were spreading all over the place, climbing up the walls and reaching out almost like hands and arms. "Is this another mystery?" I couldn't help but feel a little excited.

"I have no idea," Fabian said honestly, "What do we... Do?"

I smiled slightly. "What if we... went through it?" Fabian's eyes popped. I reached for the wall again, to stick my whole hand in this time, but Fabian grabbed it and stopped me.

"Wait Nina! We don't know anything about this! We don't know what it is, or what it does." He glanced down at my hand and dropped it. My eyes went back to the black waves. They were almost all over the whole room now.

"Do you think they'll cover the whole House?" I asked. Fabian shrugged.

"Maybe we should take out the key then. When I did that before the black stopped," Fabian said. I hesitated.

"I still want to see if it would work," I said, "I mean, to go through it." Fabian didn't say anything for a moment.

"I'll try it," he said. I bit my lip. Fabian reached up and put first his finger through the strange wall. Then his hand, and his arm. "This is weird," he said, "I think the wall is kind of- sucking me in- Ugh, help me!"

That's when it got crazy.

Fabian started falling towards the wall. I screamed and grabbed his hand, but it was no use. I pulled as hard as I could, but I felt myself falling too, all the way through the wall and the black waves.

It was an odd sensation to pass through the wall. It was cold and watery, but I wasn't wet. It was just a sort of a sensation, I guess. The last thing I saw before going all the way through was the waves extending to under the door and slipping past. Then we were falling, falling-

We landed with a heavy thump. I had no idea where we were, but it certainly wasn't Anubis House.

_A/N THANKS FOR READING- NOW REVIEW FOR UPDATES! ;)_


	6. I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!

_A/N You'll find out where Nina and Fabian went... But first everyone else has to get there too :)_

_CHAPTER SIX: I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!_

**ALFIE'S POV**

Dinner had been all weird and quiet. Jerome was all weird and quiet, too. And I noticed just as I was done mine that Nina and Fabian hadn't had dinner. Joy mentioned it, I think. That they weren't there. But it didn't sink in until I was done eating, I guess, and I decided I would ask Trudy about it.

"Trudy," I asked. "Where are Nina and Fabian?" Trudy was clearing the table.

"Don't know, sweetie." She said. She gave a little shrug. "I'm sorry to say it, but they know the rules. If you aren't here for dinner, you're going to have to wait to eat all the way til breakfast!" I shuddered. That would be horrible.

"Yes but... Do you think they went out or something? Cause I really wanted to- heheh, SHOW Fabian my new... Magic trick. Yeah." Trudy rolled her eyes. Thinking back, I was a horrible liar when it came to lying about pranks!

"They're probably studying, Alfie." She smiled. "You know those two." Trudy went on cleaning the table. I decided maybe I'd try my 'magic trick' on Jerome instead.

Right after dinner he'd gone to our room, so I went straight there. Inside, I was really, really surprised to see Jerome's sister there. What was her name again? Oh yeah, I remembered. Poppy.

"Stop showing up around here," Jerome yelled.

"I just wanted to tell you something!" Poppy pleaded. "I swear, and I really mean it, this time I just wanted to-"

"Hey." I gave a little wave, interrupting the two. Jerome sighed.

"Look Poppy-" Jerome started, but suddenly his face went all weird. "What...?" He asked, pointing behind me. Poppy and I spun around. This weird black stuff was like... Crawling in under the door! I screamed.

"It's that black Alien stuff from Spider Man 3!"

"What the-" Poppy started to say, but didn't finish. Jerome and Poppy stood there in confusion, and me, terrified. The black stuff creeped towards us.

"I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!" I screamed.

"We aren't going to die!" Yelled Jerome. "Let me just-" But before he could finish, the black stuff was at our feet. And it pulled us in. I yelled hopelesly as we fell,

"I thought all the creepy stuff ended last year!"

**MICK'S POV**

I was in the common room, and I heard yelling from the hallway. I laughed to myself. Alfie probably just hurt himself or something like that. I stood up and decided to see Mara. I wanted to see if she was wearing the necklace I'd gotten her, because I wanted to know if she liked it as much as I thought she did.

So I stood up and went, intending to see her, but I stopped in the hallway. What...? Strange shadowy blackness was all over the floor. At first I wondered why it was so dark in the hall, but it didn't seem like normal darkness. So I stepped closer, but I guess that was a mistake. I should have run when I could have. The shadow stuff grabbed me, I swear. It was like something out of a movie.

I couldn't run, and I sort of just sunk right through the floor. I didn't yell, but it was freaky to be falling through the floor. It was somewhat of a relief when I realized I wasn't the only one that had fallen through though.

Because I was somewhere else entirely... And I could see that while I was falling, getting closer to the ground. Nina, Fabian, a girl I never seen before, Jerome and Alfie were all lying down on the ground, looking like they were knocked out. From the fall? I knew I was next, but I was ready.

This is the stuff I'm good at. This was like, sports almost, I told myself as I fell and got closer and closer to the ground. Extreme sports maybe?

I tucked myself in and when I collided with the ground, and rolled over. I was mostly unhurt. I stood up and brushed myself off, wondering where the heck I was.

**MARA'S POV**

"Trudy, can I make a quick trip to the library?" I asked. I was standing on the stairs by the front door, and Trudy looked anxious.

"Not just yet, dear. I have to go out and get the groceries before the store closes, but Victor is no where in sight." She looked out the door. "I can't leave you all unsupervised, so I have to wait for- Oh look, here comes Victor." Trudy smiled at me quickly then left, anxious to get everything she needed.

Victor was walking down the road towards the House, but he was so far away he was only a speck hard to make out at night. A bit frustrated, I just turned to leave, figuring Victor wouldn't let me go out. It was getting late, but I REALLY needed to get books on my topic for Monday's history class! Eddie walked past me and I gave him a little wave, to which he gave me a nod.

I glanced again out the window, and heard Eddie yell behind me. But when I looked he wasn't there, and I tripped on my own feet.

I let out a yell, staggering. I looked down, and was surprised to see one of my feet- in the floor?

Before I could think of anything to do, I lost my balance and fell completely in. It was a long way down.

**PATRICIA'S POV**

I kept hearing yelling from downstairs. I glanced at Joy.

"Doesn't that yelling bother you?" I asked. Joy looked up from her portable movie player.

"What yelling?" She asked. I rolled my eyes.

"I keep hearing all this yelling all over the House- pause that while I'm talking to you please!" I said because she STILL wasn't paying attention. Giggling, Joy took off her headphones and looked over at me.

"Yes?" Joy said.

"Well I keep hearing-" Suddenly I heard Mara scream from downstairs. Joy and I looked at each other, then ran out of our room to find Mara. We ran down the steps, and Joy started to yell,

"Are you okay, Mar-" She stopped dead when she saw the floor.

We didn't see Mara anywhere, but the entire floor looked like a giant black puddle. Joy screamed. The whole bottom level of the House was all black and drippy almost- I could see my reflection in the floor.

"RUN!" I shoved Joy up the steps. We ran, and the stuff... followed us. It started creeping up the steps, and the walls. "How do we get out?" I yelled, but there really WAS no place to go. Whatever the black stuff was, it freaked us out.

Joy and I ran to the farthest corner of the House, but it followed us.

"What IS that?" Joy yelled.

"Don't look at me!" I yelled back. "I have no idea!"

"Well, it's coming!" Joy screamed. We waited as long as we could, but in the end we could see it right in front of our shoes. "I'm dreaming, right?" Joy asked. The black stuff slooshed up to my boots.

"Nope," I said grimly. We backed up to the wall as much as we could, but there was nothing we could do. The black stuff started pulling us in, and we fell right through it. Crazy weird.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" We yelled all the way down. We ended up landing on something that wasn't very happy to be landed on.

"Get off!" Eddie yelled. We'd flattened him on the floor! Joy and I rolled off of him in surprise.

"What the HECK just happened?" I asked. We were in a dark room with stone floors and stone walls. All the other students from the House were here, too. I looked at Joy. "Maybe this IS a dream."

Nina helped me up.

"Nope... And besides, it isn't the weirdest thing to happen to us." She shook her head. "Everyone fell through that black stuff... And now we're here. We don't know where we are, or how to get out." Nina looked scared.

"There must be some way." I said anxiously. The flood of scared feeling I get from being stuck somewhere started to bother me. It all started last year, when- Oh, never mind. The point is, I don't like be locked in. Like... I REALLY don't like it. I began searching the walls in determination.

Okay: Fall through the floor, crash-land in some random place with no way to get out? Not such a good day so far.

Fabian was standing by Nina. "We looked everywhere. And we didn't get to land on Eddie, either. We got knocked out from the fall." He said helplessly. I whirled around to glare at him.

"So what, you give up? We can't! We have to get OUT!" I crossed my arms, but my eyes searched crazily for a way out. Eddie surprised me by stepping up.

"She's right," he said, rolling his eyes. "How ELSE would we get out?" I found I was grateful for that. Joy was nodding anxiously too. Obviously no one REALLY wanted to stay in there.

I ran my fingers over the walls and looked at all the cracks- I swear I looked in every possible place, but there was just no way out. Seconds, minutes- an hour? Time ticked away. Mara and Joy looked like they were going to cry.

My determination slowly began crumbling away, leaving me feeling frustrated.

"Fabian, you're smart. Get us out of here now!" I said, not taking it any more. Eddie laughed at me, but shut up after I shot him a death glare.

Fabian shrugged again. "I don't see what we can do. The walls are sold stone and there aren't any weak spots or things to break the walls with."

Eddie snickered. I glared again, feeling like one minute he was on my side and the next he was my enemy. Fine, I thought. If you want to be that way... Then you've just made yourself the worst enemy possible.

"What do you want him to do, Yacker?" Eddie asked obnoxiously. "Say 'open sesame' and then- Oh! The walls will fall down and we'll magically be free!" He sarcastically added. He leaned against the wall- and fell over. "Woah!" He yelled.

The place where he leaned gave way, leaving a hole. I dashed towards the hole and slipped through it, stepping right over Eddie's body to get through. I took a deep breath.

"Guys, you can come out now." I said. I looked around. We seemed to be in some kind of forest, and it looked dark out. Eddie slipped out behind me, and even he looked relieved not to be stuck in there any more. Everyone else quickly shuffled through.

"What did you do?" Fabian asked Eddie. "I know the wall wasn't weak there. I checked the whole room..." He looked puzzled. Eddie just shrugged.

"No idea." He said.

"Guys, if you haven't noticed, we fell through the floor and landed in... whatever THAT place is-" Mara said, freaking out and pointing towards the castle-type building we'd escaped from- "And now we're- WHEREVER THIS IS!" I glanced where she was pointing, silently agreeing. The terrible side of me almost laughed, because she's always the calm and rational one.

"Calm down Mara." Said Jerome. But it wasn't said in a mean way. It was almost nice. I didn't care where we were- I gave Jerome a weird look when he put his hand on Mara's shoulder. Mick didn't even notice. No one else payed any attention to Mara.

I rolled my eyes.

"Time to find out where we are." I said loudly. And without waiting to see if anyone agreed, I started to walk, then run, further into the forest.

_A/N Please review, I appreciate it :)_


	7. SLEEPOVER!

_A/N Thanks so much reviewers! You know I love reviews. I especially would love it if you told me what you liked in the chapter, what you disliked, what you had for dinner, and what you thought was funniest so far. Got it? :) _

_Sorry for slow updates. I'll try harder. _

_Anyway- read on, 'cause this chapter is an important one... Well they all are xD Read the bottom A/N too please! :D_

_Chapter 7: SLEEPOVER!_

**JOY'S POV**

"Patricia!" I scrambled after my friend. I wasn't in the best shoes for this. They were just flats, and I kept tripping on rocks. "Wait!"

I can't believe this, I thought. We barely get out of the little stone room and now Patricia starts running off. Everyone else stayed right where they were, unsure of what to do.

"Yacker!" I was surprised that Eddie started running after Patricia too. I glanced back at everyone. They all started chasing too- I guess they figured it was best to stay together. I shuddered. I wouldn't want to be alone in these woods, especially at night.

Patricia was just up ahead. "I want to get out of here!" She yelled angrily.

"GRAB HER!" I yelled to Eddie. He lunged forward and got her before she could run again.

"Get off!" She fought, kicking out, but Eddie held on. Even in this circumstance, I thought, those two- I shook my head- I know they'll end up together. I mean, that's what I'm guessing. And I've got a feeling about them. "Relax!" Patricia said, annoyed. "I wasn't RUNNING AWAY. I'm just the only one who cares about finding out where we are!"

"NOT true." Amber said, looking around in disgust at the forest. "I really don't like the woods."

Mara looked the most disturbed by all of this. It came to my mind that honestly, she'd seen the least of... weird experiences. Magical-type stuff. Except for maybe Eddie, but he was kind of weird anyway. Patricia was still fighting with him, but I didn't think she need to be held on to any more.

"Mara, you okay?" I said, concerned. She looked at me like I was crazy.

"NO!" She burst into tears. "None of this makes any sense! What WAS that stuff? We don't know where we are." There was a pleading look in her eyes. I gave her a hug.

"Don't worry Mara, we'll get home." I assured. But really, I had no clue. Behind us Jerome hovered, like he wanted to do something, but heaven knows what. Mick was just scanning the horizon, and I almost turned to smack him for not paying attention to his girlfriend crying, when he suddenly shouted,

"LOOK!" We all turned. "I think I see... Little lights." He said, squinting. Eddie let go of Patricia. Patricia started twisting a silver bracelet she had on her wrist.

"It looks like a town." Fabian said excitedly. I smiled slightly at his cute little excited-face. But really, while everyone was looking that way, I suddenly noticed the blond girl. I mean, she'd been there the whole time. But no one had really asked who she was or why she was there, because we'd all been busy... um... Freaking out.

"Who are you?" I asked. She looked surprised to be acknowledged.

"I'm Poppy." She looked younger than all of us. I poked Fabian out of his trance, and he turned his attention to me, than her.

"Yes. Uh." He looked around. "I assume the reason we're all here- or landed in the same place at least- is because we were all in Anubis House." He looked at Poppy closely. "Where you?"

"Yes. I was actually." She said, and I wondered why.

Alfie was biting his lip and Jerome looked all stiff- and Mara, who'd gone a little calmer, looked worried again. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's PEOPLE.

I GET people- I'm good at reading them, and match-making, (well, possibly for everyone except myself. I'm kind of hopeless there) and all that. I could tell who obviously didn't know Poppy, and who did. Jerome DEFINITELY knew Poppy. I frowned. Something wasn't right here.

"Hey." Nina gently touched her hand on Fabian's shoulder. Was that just friendly? Or something a little more? "Maybe we should try to get to the town?" Nina asked.

"Good idea." Fabian looked around. "All in favor?" Everyone raised their hands.

**AMBER'S POV**

We walked for a long time. I mean it. A long time. I thought, if I ever spent this long bathing, I would look like a horrible old prune-lady when I got out of the shower. I frowned. Horrible thought.

Alfie was sticking close to me. On normal occasions, I would have pushed him away. (Alfie and I were NOT compatible. A much better couple would have been Mick and AMBER. Oh wait- Mick was with Mara. Oopsies, no jealousy. It's just terrible in friendships.)

But in the creepy woods... I almost didn't mind. I still had to push him off twice though.

"Farther?" I complained. Nina gave me a sympathetic look. I wished it was Mick looking at me like that. I remembered he used to when I'd say I didn't like to run. He'd say he felt sorry for me, but back then, we just laughed at it. It was like a joke between us two.

"Not too much." Nina said. I sighed.

But, as promised, it really WASN'T much further. We all stumbled into what looked like the street square by the mall back in town. Our town, I mean. The one close to school.

The buildings were all old and dark, and some were made of stone like the little one in the forest had been.

"We should go see if anyone knows where we are." Nina said. No one disagreed, and without saying anything else, we all ended up going into the first building with lights on. But inside, I realized they weren't lights. Not the electrical ones at least. There were candles and lanterns everywhere.

"I don't like this." I said. "Spooky." Jerome shot me a be-quiet look.

There was a desk on the far side of the room, and a man sat behind it in a chair. He seemed to be sleeping on the desk. I didn't think that was a very comfortable way to get beauty sleep, but I didn't mention it aloud for once.

"Well, you're the leader." Jerome said to Nina. "Go talk to the man."

"Hey! Why do I have to?" Nina asked. "And who says I'm the leader?" We all stared at her.

"You kind of are." I said, nodding to show I meant it. She sighed.

"Fine. Fabian, come with me." She towed him towards the man at the desk, who they had to wake up.

We all stood there, waiting. Finally my feet were killing me, so I sat down, even though I wasn't so sure the floor was clean. Some of the others followed my example. (I AM a trendsetter.)

"What is she DOING?" Patricia asked suddenly, pointing to Nina. Everyone looked over to see Nina making all these weird motions with her hands.

"Yoga, maybe." I said. Patricia rolled her eyes. Jerome thought it was kind of funny, especially when Fabian started making motions too. Then the man got up and started going down a hallway. Nina and Fabian looked more lost than us. Fabian looked at us and shrugged.

Then the man popped his head out from the hallway, and made a motion like, are you coming?

"What do we do?" I asked Mick. He shrugged.

"Follow him I guess." Mick was wearing this jacket that he looked really nice in, even after walking for like, 7 hours in the woods.

So anyway, that's what we did. Nina took the lead, and we all went down the hallway. The man was chattering away, but it wasn't English. It wasn't even french. And Daddy's business partner Carlos is Spanish, and it didn't sound at all like when we'd gone to Carlos's house that one time, because Daddy said we had to. But the food was actually pretty good.

We had this low fat roasted chicken, with green beans and yams. What ARE yams, anyway?

Oh yeah. Sorry, back to the story. So the point is, I realized he was talking in some foreign language. Great, just what we need, I thought with a sigh. My feet were sill killing me.

**PATRICIA'S POV**

I was so annoyed.

Really, this just wasn't my night, either. Obviously. I only wanted to know where we were, and everyone thought I was running away! And it bothered me that I hadn't been able to get Eddie off me. I tackled him before though. So maybe he just wasn't underestimating me.

As we marched down the hall following the weird little man, I realized I was playing with my silver bracelet. I stopped twisting it so much, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Eddie watching me.

I wondered if this was the quickest it had taken for me to hate someone, ever. Because it was pretty much right when I met him that I decided to hate Eddie.

We reached a room at the end of the hall, which was actually pretty long. The man pointed to the door, and turned, weaving between all of us and leaving us there.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Do we follow him?"Alfie asked. Nina shook her head.

"I think this is like, a hotel or something. Or an Inn. So... that's our room?" She pushed on the door and it swung open. No locks or doorknobs, I thought sarcastically. Safe.

In the room there were two beds, an empty bookshelf, a rug, and some extra sheets.

"I call a bed!" Yelled Amber.

"We're ALL staying in here?" Mara asked, looking horrified at the amount of space. No one really answered that, because YEAH, we were. We were all exhausted from hiking around anyway.

"Well, I call a bed too." I said, daring anyone to contradict me. I flopped over on the nearest one.

"Why do YOU get the bed?" Eddie complained.

"Because I got here first, slimeball." I said, smirking.

"Well, I want to stay in a bed too!" Alfie yelled.

I started fighting with Eddie. I'd said I wanted it first! His fault. He was slow, not my problem-

"GUYS!" Nina yelled. We'd all broken into groups and were yelling at each other. I gave Eddie a final glare. "We can't do this. How about... two girls sleep in one bed and two guys sleep in one bed? Everyone else can use the sheets and sleep on the floor. Anyone volunteer to sleep on the floor?" She looked around meaningfully, but no one spoke up. She rolled her eyes. "I'LL sleep on the floor."

"I will too." Said Fabian.

"Well I'm sleeping in the bed!" Amber insisted. We all let her have it.

In the end, it was me, Joy, Nina and Mara on the floor. Amber and Poppy got the bed. The boys fought about it more than the girls. Except for Fabian.

"You know what? I'll sleep on the floor too." Eddie said, and flashed me a smile.

"Creep." I responded.

"I should get the bed, I'm better than all of you." Grumbled Jerome. In the end, Alfie and Jerome got the bed, and Eddie, Mick, and Fabian got the floor. Welcome to the party.

There was virtually no room, but I did my best to stay away from Eddie, who was doing his best to get next to me. There was also NOT ENOUGH BLANKETS, thanks to the number of people. And Amber.

"Okay everyone. Um. Just try to get to sleep. Tomorrow we can find someone who speaks English and find out where we are." Nina's words hung in the air, and no one said anything else, except from an awkward,

"Well... It's kind of like a sleepover, right?"

From Alfie.

When I finally fell asleep (I ended up between Mara and Nina, and Eddie was pretty far away- good thing, too) I had a weird dream. A really, really weird dream.

Except... It wasn't a dream.

_A/N Thanks for reading! So remember, in your review, I want to see:_

_1. What you liked in this chapter_

_2. Anything you didn't like?/Any bad mistakes I should fix? (Beta gave up internet for Lent -_-)_

_3. What you had for dinner_

_4. What you thought was the funniest moment in the story so far :)_

_P.S._

_I said there might be a lot of Nina's and Fabian's POV's, and that's because they are always the dynamic mystery solving duo xD But there might be a lot of Patricia and Eddie, because..._

_I love them. Yeah, that's basically why xD _


	8. Fate

_Chapter 8: Fate _

**MARA'S POV**

I didn't know where I was.

Well, I didn't know where I was before I went to sleep- but this was a dream. Wasn't it?

My clothes were different. I was wearing a long, silvery dress. It was pretty, but it made me feel strange. Like I didn't belong in it. It wasn't my school uniform, or anything else I owned, except for the braided leather bracelet I'd tried to give Mick. I slid it up on my wrist again because it was too big. I wanted to keep it, though.

I glanced around- yes, my whereabouts were unknown... Yet, I felt like I knew the place. It was like the stone building we fell into just the day before. But it wasn't the same one, because it was fancier. And there were doors.

I stood up- I'd been sitting on a stone bench- and touched the door. It swung open, and with a strange sense of calmness, I walked out of the room with the bench. Strangely, I knew where I was going. Don't ask me how, I've got no idea.

"Mara!" Someone in the big hallway was calling me.

"Yes?" I answered.

A tall man turned a corner and spotted me. At once, relief seeped into his face. He looked familiar. "We've been searching for you!" He said. "Your mother was worried SICK! Where WERE you? Well, doesn't matter now. My princess is back." He grinned.

I stuttered. Who was he?

He reminded me a little of my dad. He had the same focused, watching eyes. And the same smile.

"Now, let's see your mother!" He looped him arm through mine and started to walk. I stumbled, but kept up.

Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my head. I almost screamed- but as soon as it had come, it was gone. Confusion and curiosity- and the man's arm through mine- pulled me onward.

We left the long hallway and entered a room equally as elegant. A beautiful woman sat on a high-up chair. But a shiver ran through me when she looked at me- her eyes were cold and unforgiving.

"Mara?" She asked sharply.

"Y-yes?" I croaked, feeling like my voice hadn't been used in a thousand years.

"You can't run from your fate." The woman stood. She had a dress like mine, but it was gold colored, not silver. And she looked like she belonged in it, when I felt like I didn't belong in mine.

"My fate?" I asked. The woman laughed. It was pretty, but almost threatening. I shrunk back.

"Dearest." She crossed the room and stood in front of me- looking down at me and smiling. The man unlooped his arm from mine. I wished he hadn't- I didn't like the lady. "I know you ran away to escape your destiny, dearest. But you CAN'T escape destiny, can you? That's the thing. You'll be Queen, like me, dearest."

Another jolt of pain in my head. Maybe it was her over-use of the word 'dearest'.

My vision blurred, and words rang in my head.

_"But you CAN'T escape destiny, can you?"_

_"My princess is back."_

_"You'll be Queen, like me."_

My eyes widened- I think I understand now, I thought.

"Mara, dear. Don't try to run again. Arranged marriage is not such a bad thing. There is nothing to fear." The queen murmured. The she left, her golden dress sweeping the floor behind her. But the cold smile I received from her on her way past made me think that there WAS something to fear.

The man- my father, I thought- gave me a sympathetic smile, and he left too. I collapsed on the floor. I'm a Princess in this dream?

Wait a minute- I thought. ARRANGED MARRIAGE?

I suddenly had a dreading feeling that this wasn't an ordinary dream.

**EDDIE'S POV**

I totally understood where I was, and what was happening. NOT.

But wait, let me explain.

I'd went to sleep, on that hotel's (REALLY BAD hotel, if you ask me) floor. Then I had this dream thing. It seemed like a dream at first, at least. But the longer I was in it, the more real it felt. And then I saw Patricia.

"Where are we?" I asked, and added a smirk. Just because it was a dream didn't mean I was going to put my guard down, right? Patricia looked as confused- or maybe more- as me.

"I dunno." She shrugged. I couldn't help it- I started laughing at what she was wearing. She was wearing a dress. (It wasn't that girly, but come on! I never thought Yacker would wear a dress. She looked good though. Really good.) and dark eye makeup. I guess she knew what I was laughing at, because she said through gritted teeth,

"You don't look any better." I guess she had a point there.

I was wearing this... Robe thing. Could I pull off Harry Potter style? Yeah, not really. 'Harry Potter robe' isn't style, anyway, I thought scornfully.

"I didn't dress myself." I muttered.

We were in a kind of tent thing. There was a little table with a crystal ball, and cards. When I went to touch them out of curiosity, Patricia smacked my hand.

"Those are mine." She said defensively. Her eyes clouded. "I think."

"Well, fine, then you can't touch my magic stick." I retorted.

She rolled her eyes, and I almost smiled. She totally hated me. "It's a staff, weasel. Besides, what makes it so 'magic'?" She fixed me an accusing stare. But for some reason, I knew what I was doing. I grinned.

"Because it can do this." I concentrated- I know, ME, concentrating- and the stick- er, staff- started to glow, radiating some kind of weird power. Basically pointless, but awesome.

"Woah! Let me try it." Patricia took the staff from me, but nothing happened. She glared. "Alright, where's the on switch, dufus?" I laughed.

"There isn't one."

She just rolled her eyes again and threw the staff at me. "Well, I'm sitting down. Where are we, anyway?" Then she muttered, "Weirdest dream ever..."

"Hey." I said. "This is MY dream." Now we were both REALLY confused.

Patricia sat down at the table with the crystal ball and cards. I drifted over too and sat across from her. She picked up the cards and made a weird face.

"These have really creepy pictures..." Yacker said.

"Can I see?" I asked.

"NO." She said.

But before I could say anything else, my head started throbbing, like it was going to explode. It just came out of nowhere, and I was so surprised I fell out of my chair. Across the table Patricia gasped and cradled her head in her hands, like the same thing was happening to her. I crashed down awkwardly to the floor.

When the pain went away, I noticed my hand didn't look right. And it hurt like crazy. I'd landed on it wrong.

Real heroic, right, I know. It's like, "How'd you hurt your hand, Eddie?" "Oh, I fell out of a chair." Anyway. It hurt. Like. Crazy. Muttering some things that your mom wouldn't like, I stood up. And what I saw made me forget my hand for a minute.

"Yacker...?" I asked.

Her eyes were white. Seriously, I kid you not. They were glowing white. She reached out across the table and grabbed my hand. I yelped as pain shot up it.

"_Save her._" Patricia's voice was rough and quiet. She repeated herself, fixing her creepy white eyes on me. She wasn't herself- she wasn't Yacker. "_Save her_."

Then the white in her eyes died down and I could see her normal eyes again. Yacker's eyes are really pretty. They're sort of greenish, but sometimes they almost look gray. Sometimes a little blue. I could always see how greenish-gray they looked when she was glaring at me. Not that I noticed though. Pfft, I barely knew her.

"Do you want to tell me what just happened?" I choked, taking back my hand, which hurt even more now. She blinked a few times.

"I... don't know..." Her eyes- and I REALLY was glad they weren't white anymore- widened a little at my hand. "Did you just break your hand?" She asked. I glared.

"Well, YOU might have if it wasn't already. Anyway- What happened was that I got this weird headache that lasted like two seconds, broke my hand, your eyes went all crazy and you told me to 'save her', whoever 'her' is. Yeah. Normal, Yacker." I said.

"This isn't my fault." She said, looking disgusted. "Here. Let me tell you your fortune. Maybe we'll find out how to save her. But first, fix your hand." She seemed to realize what she said after she said it, and confusion once again took it's place in her expression.

"Yeah." I said automatically. I stood and reached with my good hand for my staff, that had fallen in my brief chair-to-floor-diving moment. I picked it up with one hand and held it to my other. I concentrated- and my crumpled hand slowly unfurled. It hurt, but in a moment it looked as good as new. But now I felt really tired. "Goodnight." I muttered, and slumped over on the floor.

"Eddie!" Patricia hurried over, holding up the skirt of her dress. I laughed woozily. Haha- Yacker in a dress! "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" I mumbled, and forced myself into a sitting position. "I think fixing my hand really took it out of me."

"Well, get up." She said said intolerantly. Well, FINE THEN.

"Do we know what just happened?" I asked. She reluctantly nodded.

"Yes, I think we do. Obviously you're a freaky witch, and I'm a gypsy." I gaped. Yeah. I know that word.

"Obviously? And witches are girls Yacker! Whats the male version? And why do you know this?"

She smacked my shoulder. "Because, you just healed yourself with a magical stick-"

"-Staff" I interrupted with a slightly woozy grin-

"-STAFF" She glared- "And I just gave you a fortune. Right?"

"Wasn't much of a fortune." I said. "All you said was 'Save her'. What does that even mean?" Patricia shrugged. I looked at my newly repaired hand and felt a little unsteady again. "Is this a dream?" I asked.

Yacker shrugged again. "I honestly don't know."


	9. Could I PLEASE not get Married?

_CHAPTER NINE: Could I PLEASE not get Married?_

**NINA'S POV**

In my dream, I smiled.

It was a sunny, beautiful day.

I could hear birds singing. I was on the outskirts of the forest we'd all traveled through, and I could see the town splayed below me. I hadn't noticed it last night when it was dark- well, that or they only existed in my dream- but I saw two castles, a fair distance apart from each other.

It was all so real- the birds, the sunshine, the fresh, forest-y air. Maybe it was real? Nah.

"Fabian, there you are." I said, relieved. Then I wondered why I felt relieved, and why I'd said that. But that thought didn't bother me for long- it was SUCH a pretty day out, and Fabian was there, and I was dreaming.

"Yes, here I am." He laughed. "I was hardly gone."

"Yes, but I don't like it here." I responded. Suddenly it didn't seem like such a nice day.

Fabian shrugged, coming closer. "Look's good to me." His face suddenly twisted a little. "Nina... Is this a dream, or... When did we wake up and leave the hotel?" Confusion lit his eyes.

"I don't know." I gazed down into the town, and made up my mind. I began walking towards it, and Fabian began following closely. "I thought this was a dream, but- it can't be..."

Fabian nodded, accepting what I was saying. I was glad he didn't think I was crazy. He just seemed to know what I meant.

"Hey... Wait!" I said suddenly, stopping so abruptly that Fabian crashed into me. "I see Patricia!" At the same time we both started running towards her. As we got closer, I saw Patricia was wearing a dress. Like, a fancy dress. I almost smiled. That was different.

"Patricia!" I called. She swirled around quickly when I called her. When she saw me, she called my name and Fabian's back. Fabian and I reached her, huffing and puffing like two big bad wolves.

"Eddie, I found Nina and Fabian!" Patricia called.

"Eddie's with you?" Fabian asked. Patricia nodded and pointed to the tent-like thing behind her. Eddie came out holding a big stick.

"Hi... Do you guys know what's going on?" I asked. They shook their heads.

"Not really. Just that I'm a freaking wizard, and Yacker occasionally goes psycho- I'm talking white eyes and everything- and gives you a 'fortune'. What's up with you?"

I stared at him, really confused. Patricia glared at Eddie. "Not EXACTLY." She told me and Fabian. "But... Um, we've kind of worked out that this- world, that we're in, well, we're all something else."

"That's even more confusing." Fabian pointed out. Eddie snickered and Patricia glared at him again.

"Look," She said curtly, "This isn't OUR world. And you're NOT dreaming." Fabian and I looked at each other.

"Then how did we get here?" I asked. She shrugged.

"No idea. But anyway, we've got it figured out that I'm a sort of gypsy-fortune-teller. I started giving Eddie a fortune but he pretty much passed out before I could finish it-"

"-Did not!" He yelled-

"-so all we heard was 'save her'. I can feel it- there's someone out there that needs his help. Or, OUR help. But I haven't got a clue otherwise. And we know he's a magical freak because he hurt his hand then healed himself with his Harry Potter magic." Patricia concluded.

I think it's safe to say Fabian and I were looking at her like she was crazy.

And yet, it didn't seem like a surprise somehow. Like it was something I had once known, but then forgot, and was now being reminded of. A sharp, quick pain burned through my head.

"I-I think I get it." I mumbled.

Patricia nodded gravely. "I have NO idea where we are, really, just that it's... Not home." She paused. "Maybe you guys should let me see if I can read your fortunes." I looked doubtfully at her, but nodded yes.

"I guess if it might help us get back home." I said slowly.

"Let me see your hand." Patricia instructed. She grabbed on to it, but nothing happened. She frowned.

"When I was telling Eddie to save 'her' I felt different, and Eddie said my eyes were glowing." She glanced at him and asked, "My eyes started glowing before I touched you, didn't they?"

He shrugged. "I think so, yeah."

"That means it might not be a voluntary thing." Patricia said. "Sorry, it's not working." She turned to Fabian, and as she reached for his hand to see if it worked on him her eyes turned white, just like Eddie said they did. I screamed.

"_You are the link, the gateway back to your home._" I noticed, getting scared, that Patricia didn't seem herself. And she'd said 'your home' to Fabian, not 'our home'. "_Find your way back before the sun meets the moon, or be stuck here forever._" She turned to me and grabbed my hand. I couldn't help it- I flinched. "_Protect them_." Her white eyes looked briefly at Eddie and Fabian, then went back to me. "_Protect them all, or die._"

Then the white faded from here eyes and Patricia blinked a few times.

"That's so freaky, Yacker." Eddie muttered.

"Wheeeew that takes a lot out of me." Patricia said. "Oh, and by the way, I think it worked." She grinned.

"Why are you smiling?" Fabian said seriously. "Did you hear what you just said? Stuck here forever, DIE?" He looked a little freaked out and honestly I didn't blame him.

"Oh. I guess I did say that." Patricia said, looking a little confused. Eddie actually started laughing.

"Hey, this is serious." I said. He stopped laughing. "We don't know where everyone is, and we need to get home. Fabian, Patricia said you're the link to back home. Any ideas?"

He shrugged. "Honestly... No. But I think I know what 'when the sun meets the moon' means. An eclipse."

I nodded slowly. "Patricia and Eddie know, um, who they are. Lets try to remember who we are." I paused. "We were together when this not-dream thing started. So we must have been going somewhere together." For some reason I blushed.

"Got it." Fabian closed his eyes, and I did the same. I thought as hard as I could- and something clicked.

"Healer, protector." I said aloud. "I use natural things as medicine. That's what I do." The protector part was a little foggier, but Patricia had said to protect everyone. I guess that's what that meant.

"Okay, so we've got a gypsy, a wizard and a healer. Pretty impressive." Eddie said. "Any idea who you are yet?" Eddie asked Fabian. Fabian's eyes fluttered open.

"I think I'm a traveler." He seemed slightly embarrassed, like that was low class or something. I smiled at him kindly.

"That makes sense." I said. "If you're the link to back home, than 'traveler' makes sense, right?" Everyone nodded, and Fabian gave me a grateful look. My heart flipped over. "Okay, so, um, anyone have an idea for our next move?"

No one did.

**JEROME'S POV**

I woke up on a much nicer bed than the one I'd fallen asleep in.

I swear, it hadn't even been worth fighting over that so-called 'hotel's bed. It was lumpy anyway, and Alfie snores.

But now the bed I was in was soft, and not lumpy at all, and smelled really nice. I smiled, almost drifting back to sleep...

I sat up quickly, my heart pounding. Wait. Where am I? I thought.

The bed was huge, and so was the room. It was white, white, and white- pristine and boring. I slipped out of the bed and poked my head out the door. The hall was less white but more boring.

"Hello...?" I called. "Guys? Anyone?" I almost called 'Mara' but that was stupid. I obviously wasn't in the same place I'd fallen asleep in. Swallowing hard, I ventured out into the hall completely, and started walking along it, not allowing myself to think about her.

"Jerome!" Poppy was at the other end of the hall. She looked at me with grateful relief and ran into my arms. For once I didn't push her away.

"Hey, calm down." I said awkwardly. What? I was terrible at that stuff. "Do you know where we are?"

She looked scared. "Not at all."

"Wait." I said. "I think I know." I guided her to a window at the end of the hallway. I pointed to a tiny, tiny building, far away. We were much higher up than the other buildings around. "See that?" I said. "That's the hotel we went to sleep in."

"Then why are we here?" Poppy asked, confused.

"Because..." I didn't really know what to say, but before I could answer, a clear voice called,

"Jerome! Poppy! Get up-" A man stood at the door of the room I'd woken up in. He cut himself off. "You're awake!" He laughed, sounding impressed.

"Oh. Hi... Um..." Poppy started. I elbowed her.

"Dad," I whispered hissed. She finished her sentence.

"Yeah. Hi, DAD."

"Since you two are up, I'll be at the breakfast table." The man said, with a twinkle in his eyes. He turned to leave, but a huge coughing fit wracked his body. I sprang forward in alarm to help him. "I'm fine," He wheezed, waving me off. But he walked away clutching his chest.

"Dad?" Poppy asked. I shrugged.

"He's our dad." I said simply.

"No he's not." Poppy hissed. "Are you crazy gerbil?"

"No." I said. "In case you haven't noticed, we're not exactly at HOME, Poopy. Listen to me- this is a different world." Don't ask me how I knew. I just catch on quickly I guess. "DON'T look at me like I'm crazy. Think of how we got here. Falling through the floor like that."

She nodded slowly. "Okayyy... Well, lets go find that breakfast... DAD was talking about." I nodded. What else could we really do? I was starving anyway. As we walked, taking random turns, then following the scent of food, I planned on what to do after we ate. I had an idea to find Mara. And the others, of course.

Our noses led us to a huge table.

"Holy..." Poppy muttered. The entire table was stacked with huge plates of food. As big as the table was, there were only three places set. One of them was occupied by the man that was my father in that world.

"My dears. Sit." He invited. He coughed again, and I frowned. That sounded terrible. He could NOT be a healthy man.

"Looks great." I mumbled, filling my plate so much that some food started falling off.

"You're hungry today." The man- Dad said, laughing. He turned a little more serious. "Jerome, I have something important to tell you."

"Shoot." I said through my eggs. Stop acting like Alfie, I told myself. Slow down and CHEW the food. A sudden pang hit me. I almost missed my annoying sidekick... But I'd find him. I'd find them all- after my eggs.

"It's about becoming king."

I nearly spit out my roll.

"King?"I said, trying not to choke. Poppy mouthed to me, 'we're royal!' but she looked a little freaked out about it.

"Yes, son. King." Dad smiled, but it looked a little forced. "You know I'm not... Healthy. And I just want you to be ready-"

"Don't say that." I said, feeling angry. "Stop saying you aren't healthy. You'll get better." The words were my own, and I said them like I'd known this man as my father. I mean, I guess I did. And the prospect of him dying didn't sound too good to me.

He smiled again, and this time it was real, but a look of sympathy was added. "I might. We'll see. But in any case, you have to be ready to rule this kingdom."

"Yeeeees," I said, still taking it in that I was some kind of prince, "And?"

"Well... Son, I'll put it this way. You're getting married."

This time I spit out my drink, which was some kind of juice stuff. "MARRIED?"

"You knew this day was coming." Dad chided. He broke out coughing yet again, but forced more words out anyway. "As Prince of this land, your duty is to the people. And two must rule-"

"Mom's dead." Poppy said. She looked surprised, like she hadn't known where that came from. "You rule by yourself."

Dad looked a little mad. "That's different, Poppy."

"It's not!" She burst out. "Jerome can't get married, he belongs with-" She cut herself off and stuffed a roll in her mouth. Around it, she said, "He can't get married!" I glared at her, about to ask who she was going to say I belonged with, but Dad banged his cup on the table.

"Enough." He said sternly. "Jerome." He faced me, and a bit kinder, he added, "The law states that you must be married to be king. I know it's hard for you, but the marriage has been arranged. She's a lovely girl."

My stomach twisted at 'lovely girl'. I wanted to yell that I was too young to get married but I couldn't force any more words out.

"Dad-" Poppy tried again but one stern glance from him and she was quiet.

"You'll be meeting her later." He informed me. "Go get ready."

My appetite was gone anyway. Without a word I stood and walked away.

"Wait for me Gerbil!" Poppy squeaked.


	10. Loud and Clear

_A/N You're probably wondering why I haven't updated. Well, the truth is... I'M LAZY! INCREDIBLY LAZY. You have permission to be angry. On a better note, how was your holiday break? _

_AND For those of you with twitters, follow me, lovelycomplexbeat. No questions, do as I say! * Caffeine* _

_CHAPTER TEN: Loud and clear_

**MARA'S POV**

"Hurry Princess, it's time for you to meet your prince!" Amber chattered. Fear pulled at my heart. Oh yeah, let me explain how I found Amber.

Amber was working in the palace. Can you believe it? Amber! Anyway. She apparently understood right away that this wasn't ordinary. This whole WORLD. It was almost medieval times here, and Amber seemed to get that for some reason.

I could hardly understand how it was possible (I still can't, really) but whatever it was for her it just clicked. And she was waaay more freaked out about working than everything else.

First she'd been mad that she was a servant and I was a princess. But she didn't stay mad for long, and I envied HER. I didn't like being called 'princess' and I didn't like the dress I had to wear.

I'd checked into it, and I couldn't exactly free Amber from being a slave- er, servant. Apparently it was a family debt that had been passed down to her. I couldn't just clear it- not unless I was Queen, at least- so I promoted her to my handmaiden. Which she liked much better, because she got to pick my outfit.

I was now wearing a white dress. Amber said it was the prettiest thing in my closet, but she still called for a sewing needing, some thread and a knife because it had had a long skirt and now it had one that I felt was way too short.

"You look amazing." She promised.

We, well me really but I wouldn't go without Amber, had to go see the guy I was supposed to marry. Amber thought it was tragically romantic, and it would be like one of those stories and we'd end up falling in love anyway. I didn't think it would be like that exactly.

My mother, Queen Marissa, whose smiles still gave me chills, told me that I would be meeting him for the first time. She gave no other info. Not even a name.

"Amber." My heart was doing flips. "I have to get MARRIED. Do you understand that? If anything we should be trying to scare the prince guy away so that he WON'T want to marry me, not try to look good! And what about Mick?"

"Mara." Amber said calmly. "Wherever we are, I just KNOW the others are going to find us and bring us home. so quit worrying and while you're here, meet prince charming!"

"But-" I started. Amber just shoved me into my horse-drawn coach then climbed in after me.

"Go." She told the coach driver.

"You're insane!" I said, wanting to cry. But I didn't have the energy. I just looked out the window the whole ride and played with my bracelet. Even though it hadn't fit Mick, and still didn't fit me (Since it kept falling off I ended up knotting it around my wrist) it reminded me of him, and I told myself I'd see him soon.

"We're here, Princess." the coach driver announced.

My heart was going crazy. I think it wanted to burst out of my chest. "Thank you." I said.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Amber asked. I nodded.

"Yes please." She gave me a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry." She told me. We walked us the steps of the palace, and Amber announced to the guards that I was Princess Mara. I found myself hating that title.

We waited in the main entrance hall. The castle was beautiful, like the one that was supposedly mine. But I didn't really enjoy the architectural beauty because I was too busy freaking out.

A man came to meet us.

"Hello, I'm King Horace." He said kindly. I liked him right away, but that didn't really do anything for my nerves. It had been decided for me that I was getting married, and my mother made it obvious nothing was going to change that. "My son will see you now." We introduced ourselves and he guided us along.

"Ooooh-" Amber murmured, at how pretty everything was. Again, I couldn't bring myself to appreciate it.

"-my son is a little... Apprehensive about this." King Horace was saying. "But I'm sure you are too, no?" He smiled, and turned around a corner. I grabbed Amber's hand, getting more and more scared. "He's a great young man, I assure you. Ah, here we are."

My heart close to exploding, I stepped into yet another grand room-letting amber go first of course- and to my surprise I heard Jerome.

"Amber? How-" I stepped in, and yes- it was him. "Mara? You're-" His eyes widened in complete shock.

"Oh." King Horace coughed madly, and in between his coughs he spluttered, "I didn't know you knew her already son."

Son?

That meant that...

Oh my god.

I fainted.

**AMBER'S POV**

I couldn't believe the luck I was having.

First, I was servant. ME! Well, I was promoted a bit, but it was still unfair that I wasn't Princess. No offense to Mara.

Then Mara puts up such a fight to go and meet a prince, (A prince!) and THEN the prince turns out to be Jerome! It just got worse and worse. Oh, and then Mara fainted.

"Mara!" Jerome yelled, running to her. King Horace was still coughing, and couldn't stop. I'd tried to grab Mara when she fell, but she still ended up on the floor. Oops, sorry Mara. "Mara?" Jerome shook her. "Are you okay?"

Obviously she had passed out. King Horace stopped coughing.

"Oh dear." He said. He called for his servants to bring over the sofa. Jerome picked up Mara and put her on the sofa they brought. Then he got his own chair and put in right in front of the sofa so that he could watch Mara. That almost made me smile, despite everything. "Will she be okay? Should I call a doctor?" King Horace asked.

"NO!" I yelled. "I mean, no. They'll be fine." He nodded nervously, then left.

"I'll be back soon." He promised.

"Take your time!" I called, then grabbed my own chair and hurried over to Mara.

"She's...?" Jerome asked, his eyes never leaving her. I nodded, then remembered he wasn't looking.

"She's the princess." I said.

Jerome rubbed his eyes with his hands. He sat there for a while, thinking, and he took so long that I almost burst. How CAN one sit and think for so long?

"You guys have to get married?" I blurted, finally, not taking the silence anymore. Jerome looked at me, but I couldn't read his expression.

"That's the plan my father has."

"Oh."

Then he thought some more. But thank goodness Mara came to before he'd been thinking for much longer.

"Wha...?" She muttered. Jerome's head shot up from between his hands.

"HOW. ARE. YOU. FEELING?" I asked slowly, pronouncing every syllable loud and clear. Mara grimaced.

"It's okay, I'm- just surprised, Amber- and I'm not deaf." She looked at Jerome and got a little paler. "Hi."

"Hi." He said flatly.

I thought, he's got it bad.

"I have to use the bathroom." I announced. Then I ran before Mara could tell me not to. I stopped outside the door and listened.

"Do you feel any better?" Jerome asked. I pressed my ear even harder to the door.

"Yes. Thank you." Mara paused. "I found Amber. She was working at... My palace. She's my handmaiden now." Mara laughed shakily, and I wondered if the shakiness was because she'd passed out or because of Jerome.

"I don't know where anyone else is." Jerome said. "Well- Poppy is with me. Little nuisance is living it up as a Princess."

They went on talking for a bit, but it wasn't anything interesting. I knew I seemed to be taking a long time to use the bathroom, but there was no way I was going to interrupt them.

"Miss Amber?" King Horace was back. My head shot away from the door.

"Oh! Um, hello, just on my way back in-"

"Yes." King Horace raised an eyebrow, but then he seemed to change his mind and he winked at me. "Lets see how they're doing rather than hear it." He went inside and I followed.

Mara was sitting on the couch now, not lying on it, and Jerome was on his chair. Mara's hands were gripping the bottom of her dress, and I rolled my eyes, because I knew she thought it was too short. She looked great.

Mara wasn't looking at Jerome at all, but he was looking at her like she was the only thing in the world. I thought, AW!

The King coughed once. That got Mara's attention and even Jerome's.

"How are you, my dear?" He asked Mara. She smiled.

"I'm fine, thank you." She stood.

The king smiled. "Given your circumstance it might be best for you to go home for now, don't you think?"

"No!" Jerome stood, and he looked panicked. I have to admit, now that we'd found him I didn't want to leave him either. It would be smart to all stick together until we found Nina, Fabian, Joy, Mick, Alfie, Patricia and Eddie.

King Horace looked confused. "She can come back soon son."

I wondered if Jerome's urgent no was because he didn't want Mara to leave, specifically. Oh, yeah it TOTALLY was.

"You'll come back tomorrow?" Jerome asked Mara quietly.

"Oh- y-yes." Her hand went to her bracelet. "Thank you." She squeaked to King Horace.

"Come on." I said gently to Mara. I let her take the lead down the white marble hall. As we were leaving, I heard the King say,

"Now didn't I tell you she was lovely?"

And Jerome's reply, a little bit longingly, fading as I got farther away.

"Yes. You did."


	11. Lunch

_A/N I really have no problem with the name Leo, actually, I like it. xD_

_SORRY THIS HAS TAKEN YEARS! I'M SO SORRY! _

_Please review._

_Random note: I SO enjoy writing Eddie's POV. I don't know why. I am TOTALLY going to do him again next chapter xD_

_CHAPTER ELEVEN: Lunch_

**JOY'S POV**

I woke up feeling cold.

"Guys?" I murmured, feeling hazy. The realization came crashing down on me that this was... Not home. I mean, I knew it, but it was still surprising and confusing. To make matters worse, I was alone. "Guys?" I squeaked again.

The small room, that had been so tightly packed with people, was no empty. I began to feel scared.

Suddenly the door swung open and the foreign man from the front desk was there. He smiled at me, creeping me out.

"Good morning Chosen One!" My eyes popped open wide.

"I thought you couldn't speak English!" I shouted. Then the words 'Chosen One' sank into my brain. "And I'm not the Chosen One." I backed up, starting to get really freaked out.

The little man laughed. "Yes you are the Chosen One. Come, we will do this the easy way." He marched up to me and grabbed my wrist.

"Hey!" I said, struggling. "I SAID I'm not the Chosen One!" The strong little man threw me into the hallway. It was filled with other men, all strong looking. Two grabbed me. "Where are my friends?"

For a moment, the little man frowned. Then the look was replaced by his creeper-smile. "Not information for you to know. I say, be still! It will be easier!"

I was attempting to wrench myself free from the men, but they out-numbered me. I wasn't going without a fight though. "No!" I hissed.

They dragged me out of the hotel and into the streets. I finally ripped one of my hands free, only to have it snatched back.

"That's it," Said the little man. In my head, I gave him a name, so that I didn't have to keep calling him 'little man'. I picked one of the worst names ever: Leo. Leo commanded I be stuffed into a bag.

And that's what they did.

One of the men carried me, all bagged up, to who knew where. Tears began to roll down my face. Scared and being bumped along in a bag, I whispered about my House mates,

"Where are you guys?"

**MICK'S POV**

The sun was in my eyes, but not in an unpleasant way, really. I was lying down in the grass with my eyes closed, enjoying the feel of it.

Wait.

"Where am I exactly?" I muttered to myself. Sitting up and opening my eyes, I saw I was in a forest. In front of me it stretched out, seemingly endless, and behind me was a little house thing.

I hurried inside it. The woods seemed inviting, but I honestly didn't know what was going on. Maybe everyone else was inside? I reached for the door.

There was no one, though a small fire burned in the fireplace, with a pot of something-or-other hanging above it. I realized I was really hungry, so I went for it.

"UGH!" I shouted. The stuff in the pot looked well, well beyond cooked. It sort of resembled that gooey seaweed stuff Alfie used to get out of the school pond.

Now, I know what you're thinking.

It's unlikely for me to waste food... Mmm, food.

But give me a break here, I'm not a fan of eating charcoal-seaweed.

So, anyway. Absentmindedly I turned away and grabbed something of of a hook by the fireplace. It was a dead fox. I took a knife and began to skin it.

I don't know how I'm doing this, I thought, but I'm hungry.

Soon I had a pretty good meal going. I found some bread, and cooked up the fox. It was really interesting. Not so bad, but... Strange. I thought for a moment that I was glad Amber wasn't there. It would've been me in the pot, not the cutesy little fox.

But thinking of Ams made me confused. Because I DID miss her. Especially now.

I missed everyone, really.

I began to grab everything in sight and shove it into my pack. I thought, it's time to get out of here and find everyone.

I took the rest of the bread, and a few knives, but looking around I didn't see anything that looked like money. I had no idea what to do with the rest of the fox. In the end, I stabbed it with a stick and rolled it in cloth. I knew enough that I'd have to eat it soon, before it rotted though...

With a deep breath, I set off, wondering where I was going. I walked for a while, feeling hot as the sun reached through the tree branches and beat down on me.

As I was walking, the thought of Mara came up. I missed her, too.

"Where is she?" I wondered aloud. Was my girlfriend with everyone else?

Just then I saw the trees thinning out. My eyes widening, I hurried along, my pack bouncing against my back. It was a bit away, but I could see a village. It was the same one I'd been in just the night before, I was sure of it...

Still rushing a bit, I pushed through people here and there. But there wasn't a sign of my friends. Or even Alfie.

"Mick!" I heard a lady calling my name, but I didn't recognize the voice. A woman standing behind a booth-like table in the marketplace was calling me over.

"Uh, hi?" I said. The lady smiled.

"Where have you been? Oh, no matter. Time to trade. What have you got this time?"

Confused, I dug through my pack. "Er, not much." I said. "I have some fox meat." She fixed me with a disproving stare.

"Why didn't you just bring the fox? I would have skinned it myself and cooked it. Ah well, show it to me."

I did. "It's not much, but it's... lunch hour?" I tried. I saw on a shelf behind the lady, all types of things. One thing that stood out was a water canteen. I didn't have one, and it would be useful.

"Fine, I take it." The lady laughed. Someone from a few steps away called out to her,

"Margaret, I've got your flowers!"

So she's Margaret, I thought. I better remember that.

Margaret told that that in exchange for lunch I could pick any one thing off the shelf with the canteen. I was relieved that I could take it, and set off again.

I still had no idea where to find my friends.

**ALFIE'S POV**

I was a hero! A great, dragon-slaying hero!

HEY! That was rude, you could show a little respect. It's true, I killed a dragon that was menacing the towns. Well, kinda.

Allow me to explain.

I woke up at dawn to the sound of this annoying horn, in a hard bed. Dudes from my age to what looked like dudes in their 50's surrounded me.

"Ow," I mumbled, the loud horn-noise echoing in my ears. I got up, feeling confused and, well, really confused.

"Hey, you can rest, Alfred!" One of the men pushed me down into my bed again. Not so gently, I might add. "No patrolling for you today. You deserve a break after your heroics yesterday."

The others laughed and cheered. Pride welled up in my chest- wait a minute. What exactly had a I done?

"Heroics?" I asked. This earned more laughs. Apparently it looked like I was kidding.

Then it all started coming back to me.

"I've asked the king and his son if we can have a feast in your honor. It will be held tonight."

Feast? IN MY HONOR? FEAST? AS IN FOOD? I was in.

The other guys started patrolling and getting ready to kill monsters or whatever it was that they did, and I began to wonder around the gardens of the castle where the knight headquarters were.

Did I mention I was a knight?

The whole dragon slaying thing... Well, it was confusing at first, but then I sorta regained my memory. Turns out I was actually running from the dragon, and it was chasing me, and kinda hit a rock wall and died... Uhm...

BUT whatever, everyone else thought I was totally awesome, so who was I to tell them I wasn't? I mean, I was. I am. I AM awesome.

So now I was wondering around, enjoying the feeling of being a hero. Suddenly I saw my best pal of all time himself.

"YO! JEROME!" I yelled. He spun around, and surprise flickered on his face. Then he broke out into one of those famous Jerome smirks.

"Alfie!" He called. I ran towards him.

"Guess what bud?" I asked, grinning myself. "I'm a hero!"

He grinned back.

"I heard you slayed a dragon."

**FABIAN'S POV**

"WHAT. ARE. WE. GOING. TO. DO." Patricia's bored, loud voice snapped me back from my thoughts.

"I was just trying to think of something," I shot at her. Nina sighed.

"The way I see this, we have a few choices." We were sitting in the tent-like thing that we'd found each other by.

"Which are?" Eddie muttered. He sounded as bored as Patricia. He's just like her, I thought, shaking my head.

"We can't stay here." Nina said. "Well, I guess we could. That's option one- stay here. But I'm not sure that's a good idea. We'd never find anyone, or any way back home." She paused, then continued. "Or we can go find everyone else."

"We don't know where to look," I blurted. "Er, not that I'm against that. That's better than staying here. But we have no leads..." There were simultaneous sighs from Eddie and Patricia.

Eddie stood up.

"Well, this was nice. But it's time to go." He grabbed his staff and started for the tent exit.

"Wait!" Nina stumbled after him. "Where are you going?"

"Look... I need to find someone, okay?" His eyes met Patricia's, then he looked back at Nina and winked at her. "You can come if you want."

"What?" I said, very confused and annoyed. Patricia got up, too. Her things were packed in a leather pouch, like she'd been expecting for a while to leave.

"I told Eddie that he needs to find 'her' when I was giving him his fortune." Patricia said loudly, "So we've got to go do that now. Someone needs our help, obviously."

"Yes, but you don't even know who she is," argued Nina. I nodded.

"I agree," I said. "You guys might be going on a wild goose chase."

"Hey!" Eddie said, annoyed now. "Fine. Suit yourself. Stay here. I'M going to find her. She's in trouble." He set off out the tent exit, muttering incoherent things.

Patricia followed after him.

"This is ridiculous!" Nina yelled. Patricia looked back, shrugging.

"For once, the numbskull is right. We know someone out there is in danger, so we have to help her. Whoever she is. It's the right thing to do."

I nodded. "Alright, if you two feel that way. Let's just meet up-"

"Fine!" Nina cut me off, angrily. "GO. WE are going to find everyone else." Patricia smirked, then slipped through the flaps in the tent, calling out to Eddie, who had a head start. "Ugh, I can't believe they just went like that. And Patricia-"

"Nina!" I said. "Now they're gone and we don't know where to meet up with them!" Nina blushed.

"Oops. I'm sorry. Should we go after them?" Nina looked extremely embarrassed. I felt bad making her feel that way, but I knew I was right.

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean to. But I don't think we should, they're probably way out there, and it's dark. We can stay until tomorrow, than look for them, or everyone else."

Nina breathed in and out heavily.

"I hope we can."


	12. Break

_A/N_

_PLEASE READ THIS._

_Lets talk business here._

_xD_

_I REALLY REALLY want to know what you guys are thinking about season 3. I am not very excited for new characters... Are you? _

_This story, as well as my others, stand, for now at least, as the characters that I like. I might never stop writing stories with Nina and Mick in them, even though they won't be back for season 3. I'm VERY annoyed about that..._

_I wasn't upset when Eddie came, because the leaving of Mick wasn't too quick. And he still was mentioned, and in the show a few times. And even though he's here in this story, I actually don't like Mick. At the same time I'm annoyed that he really is gone._

_And Eddie always seemed awesome anyway._

_If you want to know/tell more, about what I know/you and about what I/you think, PM me._

_As well as that, drop by the Facebook page I admin, and like. Just type in the search bar HOA 4 Ever. It will come right up._

_Plus, if you tell me you came from Fanfiction, I'll edit you a picture!_

_Thanks!_

_CHAPTER TWELVE: Break_

**EDDIE'S POV**

I have to admit, when Yacker caught up to me, I was a little relieved. Sure, I'd went off alone. That didn't mean I wasn't hoping she'd follow.

We trudged along in silence. A part of me wanted to thank her for coming, but I pushed that down- It would seem so... Out of character for me, I thought. She'd think I was sick or something.

In the dark, I let my mind wander a little, and I even let Patricia take the lead, letting me think a little more. Which is interesting, because I'm not the thinking type. I'm the DOING type.

I guess girls do that to you.

Well, the right ones anyway.

I squinted at Patricia's form, not so far ahead, and confusion filled my head. I hadn't known her for very long, but... There was something about her. I'd never felt that way before, and it made me a little uncomfortable.

"Come on, slow-slimeball." Patricia called from ahead. "Really, any slower and we'll be 50 by the time we find Her."

We simply started referring to this mystery girl I was supposed to save as Her. Before it was kinda like... 'her' but now it was Her. We were acknowledging the girl as a person, and our name until we found her was... Her.

Crazy, I know.

I sped up until I reached Patricia.

"So... Any ideas on where we're GOING?" I asked. Even in the dim light, I saw the look she shot me.

"No, not really."

"Well, we could sit for a while." I rolled my eyes. "Honestly. It must be like 2 AM, and my legs are going to fall off." Patricia smacked my shoulder, probably for complaining.

"Fine." She muttered, and began to trudge over to a tree, then suddenly, she froze.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"My bracelet!" Patricia exclaimed. "It's gone!" She dropped down on her knees and started poking around in the grass and leaves. I rolled my eyes.

"You CAN get a new one, right? It's just jewelry-"

"It's NOT." She sounds so mad, I thought. I wondered why. "It's-" She faltered. "It's important, okay? Now help me look!" I started to, but I really doubted we'd find it. She could have dropped it anywhere.

Eventually, my hand actually brushed against it- a thin silver loop in the grass. I scooped it up. "Here."

Relief flooded Yacker's face, and I had to wonder, again, why her silver bracelet was so great.

"Thank you." She muttered, putting it back on her wrist. "I'll have to make sure I don't lose it again..."

WOAH.

It must REALLY be something, if YACKER just said THANKS to me, I thought, absolutely stunned. She suddenly retained herself. She stood up straight and started again for the same tree, now farther away in our searching.

She sat.

I hesitated, for like half a second, then sat down next to her. I decided to fill the empty, silent air.

"Maybe if you read my palms or whatever you were doing we'll find out some more about Her," I suggested. Yacker sighed and looked up through the tree branches at the faint stars.

"Maybe."

I could tell she was tired. I was, too. We'd been walking for a while. I guess it was intuition, but we'd started heading away from the town and its people, and we'd come a long way. Was that a mistake? I wondered. My stomach growled.

"Ugh, I'm so hungry," I muttered. Patricia's eyes were fluttering closed, and she murmured something I didn't catch. I smirked. "Sleepy?"

Her eyes shot open.

"No!" She said indigently. She grabbed my hand, and for a second, I was was totally surprised. But then I felt like an idiot- she was just trying to give me a fortune, obviously. So that we could get a lead on Her.

We waited, her hands on mine, but nothing was happening.

"Zip?" I asked. "Zero? Zilch?"

"Nothing." She replied, taking her hands away. I yawned.

"Maybe we should take turns sleeping," I tried. "One will sleep, the other will stay on watch. Just in case." Patrica nodded.

Then, at the same time, we both spoke. She said:

"I'll sleep first."

And I said:

"I'll watch first."

Hey! I was just doing the manly thing, or whatever. Sheesh. Trying to... I don't even know. I told you, girls do weird things to you.

A beam of moonlight hit Patricia's face, and she grinned at me.

"Right." She said to me. Then she settled down as best she could, under the tree, with me yawning the whole time.

I stayed awake long enough to see Patricia go to sleep. Which wasn't long. So basically, I went to sleep right after her, anyway.

So much for watch duty.

**AMBER'S POV**

Mara was SO way in over her head.

I looked out the window, and it was hard not to just stare, because it was so boring. But I wouldn't allow staring, because too much could strain the eyes, and last I checked, 'strained eyes' did not sound attractive.

Mara had been struggling to get ready for some time.

We were in her room, and she was dressing behind a screen.

I rolled my eyes, unwilling to sit and wait any more. I stood and marched right over to the screen. But Mara was trying to button a dress, or putting on shoes, or anything.

She was just sitting there.

"Mara," I said kindly, "I didn't think blue was your color either. But you look fine."

"This isn't about my dress, Amber." Mara responded. Come to think of it, she looked bluer than her dress. "I just... Want to know why we're here. It's so confusing- The whole getting-here part was confusing enough, but then we got separated. We only know where Jerome is, and the others could be anywhere..."

I think she was thinking of Mick.

"We can't do anything." I said. No, wait. "Actually- we can." I sat down next to Mara. "What we've got to do is get our acts together. You need to be a Princess, and we have to stay strong. Until we can find the others."

Mara looked surprised.

"You're right," She said slowly. I glanced out the window again.

"What to go see Jerome?" I asked. I giggled. "You two are so..."

"So what?" Mara muttered. Deep in thought. Suddenly she gave me a pointed look. "None of that, Amber. I like Mick. Besides, I wouldn't marry Jerome in a million years." She finished. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"Me either."

Mara and I laughed.

"Well, lets get some food. Then we can see Jerome." Mara told me. "Maybe he's found the others."

**JOY'S POV**

I woke up the same way as the last few days.

In a cold room, locked up.

Just as usual, Leo brought my food in on a tray. My stomach was growling, but I glared as maliciously as I could.

"Let me go!" I yelled. My voice was croaky from yelling, but every time I heard footsteps outside the door I made as much noise as I could. And when Leo came in, I'd insult him.

I was shackled like a prisoner to the wall, and I could go about halfway across the small room, but no farther.

"I told you, Chosen One." Leo said, annoyed. He set my food down on a table near me. But he was still out of reach, and the key on his belt taunted me. There was nothing in the room that could be used to break out. Even the table was small, so there was no way of breaking down the door, even if I did get the key. "We wait for my master."

Stupid Leo.

I glared harder.

"Could you PLEASE tell me who that is? I mean, I'm NOT EVEN THE CHOSEN ONE. I am so calling the police the second I get out of here." I rolled my eyes.

"Police?" Leo said, confused. He waved his hand, as if to dismiss it. "Eat." He said. The he left, and he locked the door behind him.

"UGH!" I yelled. I have SO had enough of this, I thought. Annoyed, I stood and went as far as my chains allowed, than yanked. And pulled. And strained. My arms were sore from doing this for a few days, but I HAD to get out of there.

I sighed. After doing that for a minute or two, I stopped to eat. No sense in being locked up AND hungry.

For the first time, there was a knife on the food tray. Excitement filled me.

It wasn't very sharp, and it was small. But I was more interested in the fact that it was metal. Forgetting my food, I grabbed for the knife and turned around to look at where my chains connected to the wall.

Yanking on the ends, I discovered it was loose on one side, and looser on the other. Now I was really getting somewhere. All the yanking must have worked a little.

I slid the knife into the tiny opening between my chains and the wall on the looser end. Concentrating, I twisted the knife and dug in. I pushed as hard as I could. My eyes snapped shut in my effort, and my hands started to feel numb, but I put all my power into it, shoving.

Suddenly there was a snap. I gasped and fell a little. On one side, the chain had come out of the wall. Yes! I thought, pleased. Panting, I sat down to catch my breath for a quick break.

I grabbed for the knife though. I wanted to keep it by me. But when I picked it up, I saw it was broken. Tears filled my eyes. I was half free, but now my only way of getting all the way free was ruined.

Taking a deep breath, I told myself I'd find another way. I would not stay here.

I stood again, and put the chains end back in the wall. It would look like it was in, but it would be easy to rip out again. I just had to make like I was still stuck when Leo came back.

Chin held high, I waited, my brain working overtime to find a different way out.

_A/N_

_Please review!_

_I would like to know:_

_1. Who do you like in the story best so far/whose POV would you like to see more of?_

_2. Any constructive criticism? _

_3. What do you think will happen next?_

_Thank you!_

_PS_

_Feel free to report any mistakes to me. My Beta isn't working on this story right now._


	13. Mara Searching and Poppy Plans

_A/N _

_Thanks for the reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter._

_PS: Check out _HOA 4 Ever, my Facebook page. If you like and mention you're from Fanfiction, I'll edit you a picture.__

_Thanks again :)_

_CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Mara Searching and Poppy Plans_

**PATRICIA'S POV**

I woke up early, despite falling asleep late. The grass was covered in morning dew, and I shivered, feeling the cold air.

The very next thing I noticed was the snoring.

I rolled my eyes. Only Eddie would volunteer to be on the lookout, than go to sleep on the job. He snores worse than Mick! I thought. And believe me, that is not a good thing.

I let loose a yawn. I could wake up Eddie (which would be fun) or I could go back to sleep myself... No, we had to get moving. Besides, I wasn't sure how often I'd get a chance like this. Smirking, I brought my mouth up close to him ear.

"WAKE UP!" I announced. "New day! Time to move!"

"UGH." He mumbled. I enjoyed his look of distress. "It's like 6 AM... I'm pretty sure this is illegal..."

"Just get up, loser." I said, rolling my eyes. There was a bit more protesting, but we both had a sort of understanding. We had to go, and soon.

We ate really fast. We had these sort of cracker things that we found in a pack back in the tent. I'd also carefully tucked in my crystal ball, and my cards. Nina told me they looked like tarot cards, used for- you guessed it- telling the future.

We had a long way to go-wherever we were going- and we were still hungry, but I felt determined.

Eddie and I aren't quiet people. But as we got a move on, there was hardly a word exchanged. Which is interesting- he thinks I talk a lot, obviously if you couldn't tell by 'Yacker'. And we fight all the time.

The land was starting to be all uphill. More and more. It was hard, but I would never admit that. I didn't need to rest. It was fine-

"So." Eddie blurted suddenly. "Why so quiet?"

"I could ask the same about you." I said, my voice feeling oddly un-used. Eddie grinned.

"Yeah, but I'm not the one with the nickname Yacker." He was smirking, but when he looked at me, I think a hint of a real smile was on his lips.

"Well, I could come up with some nicknames for you," I said breezily. "But I already have, actually. Slimeball is still my favorite." He scoffed, like I was hardly bothering him at all, getting me a little riled up. I _guess_ he has his moments, I thought, but he's still completely idiotic.

For once though, he didn't shoot back. Instead, he just stopped walking.

"So when are you going to tell me about your precious bracelet?" Eddie asked. He seemed... Curious. Not anything else. Just like he genuinely wanted to know, and I thought, it must have been bothering him or something if he's asking about it.

Too bad I wasn't going to tell him anything.

"None of your business." I hissed, my face feeling hot. "I don't bother you about the cruddy thing you've always got on." I pointed to his bracelet. He was always wearing it, and it looked like brown leather. It was pretty beat up though.

He raised an eyebrow.

"You never asked. I mean if you wanna know something, you gotta ask, right?" I rolled my eyes and began marching uphill again. When I didn't answer him, he asked me a different question. "You're the mysterious type, or whatever, aren't you?" He smirked. "No worries, I'll figure you out." I spun around to face him, cutting him off.

"Don't count on that." I said. Just four words, but I let my eyes do the rest of the talking.

It got quiet again, but I couldn't help but think that when I saw Eddie out the corners of my eyes, he looked impressed.

**MICK'S POV**

I was getting frustrated. The town was a busy place, and in my second day there, I still had no leads on my friends. Anyone I asked acted like they had no idea what I was talking about.

I was missing Mara a lot. Her smile, her laugh...

I'd already decided I wouldn't stop looking til I found her.

"Excuse me." I stopped yet another person. "Have you seen a girl my age, about this tall?" I asked, holding out my hands. "With dark hair and dark eyes? Possibly with a large group of others our age?"

The woman I'd asked smiled. "Cadence is out right now. Are you one of her friends?"

"What? No, sorry, her name isn't Cadence." I said. "Her name is Mara." The woman laughed.

"The Princess? That Mara? Dear, I don't think she is accepting any courtiers." Now I was really confused.

"Could you just tell me where she is?" I asked.

"The palace, of course!"

Right away I started for a castle that didn't look to far away. It loomed above everything else, looking dark and big and kind of lonely. But there was another castle too- farther away. Which castle was Mara in?

I could have asked, but now I had a lead. I could just go to the nearer castle, and if she wasn't there, I could go to the farther one, easy as that.

I'm coming Mara, I thought.

**JEROME'S POV**

"Sir, Princess Mara and her handmaiden have returned."

I sat up quickly, running a hand through my hair. I was sitting with Alfie and Poppy, and it wasn't long after breakfast. Already, Mara was coming back again, and-

Poppy cleared her throat. I shot her a what-do-you-want? look. "Thank you." She said, dismissing the servant. When he was out of earshot, she hissed to me, "Gerbil, get your head out of the clouds."

Alfie looked incredibly bored.

"Look, man," he told me. "I'm going to get more eggs, okay? Then I'll come and see Ams and Mara." I nodded and he left. Poppy smirked at me.

"Do you have a thing for this Mara girl?" She asked me in a sing-songy voice. "Because if I didn't know any better..." I glared at her.

"Well, you DO know better." I snapped. "Just shut up and stay here, okay?" I got up and hurried to the main gate in time to see Mara and Amber coming through in their horse carriage.

Mara and Amber were let in, and as annoying as it was, my heart did a little skip at the sight of her. Mara, I mean. I thought, she looks rather nice in blue. As usual, Amber appeared to be chatting away.

Poppy, who never listens to a word I say, had strayed and was now beside me, hopping up and down.

"I like Mara, she's nice," she told me. "And you and her are obviously meant for each o-" I shoved my hand over Poppy's mouth.

"Shut it!" I warned, just as Mara and Amber reached us. Poppy glared at me.

"Hi." Amber said, looking bored.

"Any word on the others?" Mara asked me, right away. With a sting of annoyance, I saw the thoughtful face she was making. Mick, Mick Mick, I thought. I'm sure she's been thinking all about that meat-head. I cleared my throat.

"Actually, I've found Alfie-" I was cut off by Amber.

"Alfie!" She yay-ed. "To think, I've been stuck with only Mara as company, for like, a whole day... So, where is he?" Amber asked. I smirked.

"Getting food." I answered, and pointed. Amber followed my finger down the corridor, calling Alfie's name excitedly. It appeared as though Poppy was already annoying Mara. Except, Mara wasn't annoyed. She was laughing, as if Poopy was actually funny.

I suppose Poppy was just annoying me.

"Jerome still sleeps with his teddy bear," Poppy was saying. Ugh, I thought. She thinks she's a clever little beastly liar.

"That's not even true." I butted in. "I stopped sleeping with a teddy bear like, 2 years ago." Mara giggled, and Poppy rolled her eyes, probably mad I'd spoiled her evil fun. She muttered some things that I'm sure would make Mara stop thinking she's so sweet, if she'd only heard them.

"So you've found Alfie? That's great!" Mara said cheerfully. I nodded as a response, and all I could think was, I wish Poppy would get out of here. In a way, it was bad enough to be with Mara. But then there was that sister of mine.

Instead of leaving, Poppy was just in the corner smirking. I shot her a stern gaze. "Don't you think," I said over Mara's head to Poopy, "you should go? Check on dad maybe?" Poppy laughed. My gaze hardened more. "Leave?" I added on the end.

"I'm good, and I'm sure dad is too." Poppy said, almost with a Mara level of cheer. As I was about to respond, Mara jumped in.

"Oh, let her stay Jerome! She's not doing anything wrong." She smiled at Poppy, than at me. I thought, well, she seems to have gotten over her nervousness from the other day. No fainting now.

"Fine," I muttered. Little did I know that plans were forming in Poppy's head.

Plans that she hoped would result in me and Mara as an item.

Little devil.

_A/N Did you like the chapter? I bally well hope you did :D Please review and all that junk, thank you! Should be updating again soon._


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